Marked for Ivan Borges
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Jun 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market19 Jun 2028
The name of Nicolás Vidal has come up in conversations Defensores were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Nicolás Benegas falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
Match17 Jun 2028
Morón left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Ivan Borges in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Defensores this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Roberto Escobar to a room that had heard them before.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
Defensores have made the call to Nueva Chicago. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Player ratings19 Jun 2028
Mateo Natale beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 12. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 Apr 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Defensores can pretend not to have heard.
Match1 Apr 2028
4 matches without a win for Defensores
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Defensores are no longer polite ones.
Squad3 Apr 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Defensores this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Borges, and the manager let it.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“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.
Match1 Apr 2028
Point won or two lost for Defensores?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against San Martín SJ? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Defensores, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Looking ahead3 Apr 2028
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Gimnasia y Esgrima in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Jan 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market24 Jan 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Defensores is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market24 Jan 2028
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Defensores can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad24 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Defensores
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolás Benegas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Ivan Borges and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom24 Jan 2028
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.