Abraham Marcus and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matija Mitrović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Level with 91 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Pacos de Ferreira had all but put away. Maritimo will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Robert Maciel and Pacos de Ferreira agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
In brief
Squad5 new faces, and Pacos de Ferreira are still learning each other
Two goals and a mark of 8.72 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Marcos Duré and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Oscar Cáceres has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at 12 de Junio, and it is not being withdrawn.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Diego Aranda, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Diego Balbuena to a room that had heard them before.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Diego Aranda is on it.
Iván Ortiz, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.98
A mark of 7.98 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 12 de Junio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Independiente CG left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at 12 de Junio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian García is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Everybody at 12 de Junio saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Nobody at 12 de Junio will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Fernando de la Mora? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at 12 de Junio was different afterwards.
Oscar Cáceres had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Deportivo Capiata were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Junio can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 12 de Junio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cristian García was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
9 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Junio can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 12 de Junio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cristian García was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Diego Balbuena after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at 12 de Junio, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 12 de Junio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at 12 de Junio the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Marcos Ojeda
The deal with Sol de America is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. César Rolón has just signed for 12 de Junio, and for once the answer mattered.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation 12 de Junio are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
12 de Junio have made the call to Libertad. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. 12 de Junio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at 12 de Junio, and it is not being withdrawn.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Igor Valdez has just signed for 12 de Junio, and for once the answer mattered.
12 de Junio asked and Guarani said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. 12 de Junio lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Robert Maciel was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
12 de Junio offered $31.0K; Sportivo Luqueno said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at 12 de Junio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian García is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A loan enquiry to Sportivo Luqueno: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Iván Ortiz is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 36 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
He came through the session, took part in everything and finished it smiling. 12 de Junio will not rush him, and he will spend the next fortnight trying to rush them.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at 12 de Junio, and it is not being withdrawn.
Marcos Duré and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at 12 de Junio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Báez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jonathan Lozano and 12 de Junio agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Robert Maciel trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ivan Romero is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Gustavo Valdez has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Robert Maciel and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at 12 de Junio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Báez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Robert Maciel and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
In brief
SquadDerlis Lopez is not doing himself any favours
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Junio can pretend not to have heard.
Robert Maciel was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
In brief
Squad15 new faces, and 12 de Junio are still learning each other
The dugoutIván Ortiz has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Antonio Gomez
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 12 de Junio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
In brief
MarketA stepping stone, not a home, for Alan Aquino
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 12 de Junio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Edgar Enciso has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Edgar Caceres has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at 12 de Junio than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Robert Maciel and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Fernando de la Mora defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at 12 de Junio was different afterwards.
Robert Maciel was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad24 Aug 2026
13 new faces, and 12 de Junio are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
It needed Fulvio Duarte to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Deportivo Capiata, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
In brief
The dugoutIván Ortiz has become a man the manager trusts
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Jesús Servín has, at 12 de Junio, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 12 de Junio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nelson Valenzuela and 12 de Junio agree another 4 years.