Marked for Enzo Yñiguez
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market21 May 2029
“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 The request is on a desk at Atenas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad21 May 2029
A falling-out at Atenas
Matías Núñez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 May 2029
Words at Atenas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brian González 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.
Match19 May 2029
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout21 May 2029
The manager makes an example of Emanuel Carlos
“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.
Player ratings21 May 2029
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.86 on the card, and the Atenas support went home talking about one name.
The dugout21 May 2029
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Rodrigo De Arrascaeta to a room that had heard them before.
Squad21 May 2029
One booking too many, and a game watched from the stand. Atenas lose him for the most avoidable reason in the sport.
Squad21 May 2029
Ferreira named player of the week
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Ferreira has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Apr 2029
Words exchanged at Atenas
Brian González 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.
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
The numbers do not look good at Atenas
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Luciano Bello 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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Germán Barbas is the division's best young player this month
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Atenas will try very hard not to make too much of it.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
“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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
A place in the month's best eleven for Brian González
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Brian González has come out of that comparison in the side, and Atenas have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Looking ahead2 Apr 2029
A test against the best for Atenas
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Tacuarembo.
Looking ahead2 Apr 2029
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Guido Sosa’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Atenas needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market2 Apr 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Brian González’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 Jan 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Atenas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout22 Jan 2029
This is not rotation. Matías Núñez has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Atenas is pretending otherwise.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words exchanged at Atenas
César 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.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words at Atenas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brian González 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.
Transfer targets22 Jan 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Boston River have kept their man, and Atenas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets22 Jan 2029
A loan move for Pablo Lago is in the works
Atenas have made the call to Juventud. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout22 Jan 2029
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 Emanuel Carlos is on it.
Market22 Jan 2029
The name of Brian González keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Atenas say nothing, which says plenty.
Market22 Jan 2029
The shop window has Matías Núñez in it
Atenas have let the market know Matías Núñez can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market20 Nov 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Atenas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
This is not rotation. Vittorio Magno has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Atenas is pretending otherwise.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words exchanged at Atenas
Mariano Aguilera 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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Atenas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brian González 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 dugout20 Nov 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Facundo Briñón'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.
Boardroom20 Nov 2028
Wages swallow 88% of the Atenas 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.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
Tiago Romero has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Atenas 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 dugout20 Nov 2028
Vittorio Magno 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 Atenas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market20 Nov 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Atenas know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout16 Oct 2028
This is not rotation. Francisco Coirolo has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Atenas is pretending otherwise.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Tempers go at Atenas
Mariano Aguilera 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 dugout16 Oct 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 Atenas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout16 Oct 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.
Market16 Oct 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Atenas know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market16 Oct 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Luciano Taboada may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Sep 2028
Brian González damages knee ligaments — 28 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Atenas may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market18 Sep 2028
“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 Atenas, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
This is not rotation. Francisco Coirolo has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Atenas is pretending otherwise.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Tempers go at Atenas
Mariano Aguilera 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 dugout18 Sep 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tiago Romero, and the manager let it.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
César knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and César trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad18 Sep 2028
No place for Enzo Yñiguez in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Atenas are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market18 Sep 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Atenas know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.