Marked for Ignacio Tinelli
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Oct 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Oriental, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Oriental training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Manuel Villalba 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Oriental
Ignacio Tinelli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Oct 2027
49 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Loan watch4 Oct 2027
Brian Lapaz: I did not sign for Oriental to play for other people
“Every summer it is another club, another set of team-mates, another manager to convince. I have done all that. Now I want a pre-season at Oriental and a proper look at me.” He remains Deportivo Colonia’s player until the spell runs out — but the argument is with the club that owns him.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Enzo Vlaeminch
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout27 Sep 2027
Julio Caballero: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Oriental have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Nicolás Kozlovsky 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.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Ignacio Tinelli
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad27 Sep 2027
A falling-out at Oriental
Mathías Sosa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
Martín Vallejo has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Oriental 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.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
Axel Almeida knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Oriental, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Sep 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Martín Vallejo
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Oriental lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
Santiago Chávez: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Oriental have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Oriental training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Manuel Villalba 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Oriental
Enzo Vlaeminch 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 dugout20 Sep 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad20 Sep 2027
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Aug 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Oriental will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market9 Aug 2027
“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 Oriental, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
The game went through Nahuel Gómez — 6.38
Marked 6.38 on 18 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Juan Manuel Villalba 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Oriental this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match7 Aug 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom9 Aug 2027
Wages swallow 102% of the Oriental income
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.
Market9 Aug 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Jul 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Oriental will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.59 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match10 Jul 2027
The wait goes on for Oriental
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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Oriental
Emiliano Bermúdez 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.
Match10 Jul 2027
2‑3 to Central Espanol, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad12 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Oriental
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Manuel Villalba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Argentinos Juniors have kept their man, and Oriental go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Jul 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 85 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market5 Jul 2027
“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 Oriental, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market5 Jul 2027
Thiago Pereira has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Oriental they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A falling-out at Oriental
Emiliano Bermúdez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ignacio Tinelli and Oriental agree another 4 years.
Match3 Jul 2027
Rentistas left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Oriental
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolás Kozlovsky was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market5 Jul 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Ezequiel Navarro Montoya has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Oriental.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match24 May 2027
Oriental refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 22 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad24 May 2027
Emiliano Bermúdez 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.
Match22 May 2027
Cerro made Oriental work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Oriental training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kauê Silva 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.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.84 on the card, and the Oriental support went home talking about one name.
The dugout24 May 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Leonardo Cardozo, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout24 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Martín Vallejo, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Ignacio Tinelli's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Apr 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Santino Robles: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Oriental have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Juan Manuel Villalba 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.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Oriental
Martín Vallejo 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.
Match24 Apr 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Cerro Largo leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Ignacio Tinelli's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Leonardo Cardozo chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Oriental
Emiliano Bermúdez 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Oriental training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Manuel Villalba 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 dugout29 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gabriel Chocobar, and the manager let it.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Ignacio Tinelli's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Market29 Mar 2027
Adriel da Silva is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Oriental has been clear about where Adriel da Silva stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Looking ahead29 Mar 2027
Next up at home: Rentistas, who go into it in position 8. The kind of fixture a season is quietly built on or quietly loses its shape in.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Juan Manuel Villalba plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout1 Mar 2027
Juan Peinipil: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Oriental have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match27 Feb 2027
The 85th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Nahuel Soria decided nobody was going anywhere. Atenas had no time left to answer.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Oriental
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolás Kozlovsky was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match27 Feb 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nahuel Soria. 2‑1 against Atenas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Martín Vallejo 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.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad1 Mar 2027
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Ángelo Gabrielli is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Leonardo Cardozo could afford to be generous.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Ignacio Tinelli's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Oriental
Enzo Vlaeminch and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Jan 2027
The medical room confirms 49 days on the sidelines for Martín Vallejo, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Nahuel Gómez 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Dec 2026
Oriental say no — this time
The offer from Penarol for Brian Lapaz was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Transfer targets14 Dec 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Montevideo City Torque is saying, and nobody at Oriental is enjoying the guessing.
Market14 Dec 2026
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Oriental
Emiliano Bermúdez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Nahuel Gómez 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Oriental will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Gabriel Chocobar asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market14 Dec 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.