Marked for Lucas Duré
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market14 Jun 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 The request is on a desk at Montevideo City Torque, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match12 Jun 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Montevideo City Torque did not have in the autumn.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Diogo Guzmán 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 Montevideo City Torque this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Montevideo City Torque asked and Cruz Azul 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 terraces14 Jun 2027
At 21 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.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
Marked 7.90 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Montevideo City Torque had the best player on the pitch.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Colón have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Artigas waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Montevideo City Torque is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Montevideo City Torque may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market7 Jun 2027
Atenas come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Montevideo City Torque did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market7 Jun 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 The request is on a desk at Montevideo City Torque, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match5 Jun 2027
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giovanni González was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Gonzalo Montes 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.
Transfer targets7 Jun 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.
The terraces7 Jun 2027
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Apr 2027
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market19 Apr 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Montevideo City Torque can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
No sign of nerves from Luka Andrade at 20 — 7.96
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Luka Andrade did not need any: 7.96, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Lucas Duré: 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.” Montevideo City Torque have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Giovanni González 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.
Squad19 Apr 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 Montevideo City Torque this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces19 Apr 2027
At 21 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.
Match17 Apr 2027
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Boston River were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Apr 2027
5 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 Apr 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 Montevideo City Torque this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match10 Apr 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Gaston Jimenez after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Lucas Duré gets it from the manager
“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.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad12 Apr 2027
José Tarán 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.
Looking ahead12 Apr 2027
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Boston River in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The plan did not have a place for Kevin Silva
Nobody at Montevideo City Torque is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Montevideo City Torque have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Diogo Guzmán, 21, steals the show — 7.81
Marked 7.81 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market1 Mar 2027
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Diogo Guzmán wants continental football; whether Montevideo City Torque can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Franco Pizzichillo 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Nahuel da Silva 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 dugout1 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Juan Cruz Santander, and the manager let it.
Match27 Feb 2027
It needed Diogo Guzmán to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Plaza Colonia, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Lucas Duré is no longer first choice
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Lucas Duré has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Gaston Jimenez was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Montevideo City Torque dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets14 Dec 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Montevideo City Torque have done the hard part with River Plate, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Boardroom14 Dec 2026
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Mateo Urrutia has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Montevideo City Torque have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Transfer targets14 Dec 2026
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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Nicolás Guirin 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gonzalo Montes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market14 Dec 2026
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Transfer targets14 Dec 2026
Santos have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“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 dugout14 Dec 2026
Nicolás Guirin 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
Pablo Siles 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
Diogo Guzmán gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nahuel Leivas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Emiliano Tejera trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I have started watching training differently.” At 36 he has begun the badges, which is how most of the men in the dugout began.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Gonzalo Montes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nahuel Leivas 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Montevideo City Torque, and both men came out saying it was fine.