A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
7 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Los Andes have done the hard part with Talleres, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Julián Navas 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Marko Brey will call it something else in private.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Los Andes they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Lisandro Garcia 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Los Andes is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Julián Rodríguez Vuotto 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.
Everybody at Los Andes saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 34 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.
Acassuso left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words at Los Andes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Carrasco 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.
11 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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Marko Brey reports back to Los Andes with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
“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 Los Andes, and it is not being withdrawn.
This is not rotation. Julián Rodríguez Vuotto has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Los Andes is pretending otherwise.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Los Andes until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Los Andes is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Los Andes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Edgar Segovia
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Benjamín Garay’s exile
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
“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 Los Andes, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Los Andes people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Franco Rodríguez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Los Andes the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Los Andes and Belgrano have settled on $89.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Julián Rodríguez Vuotto 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.
Position 23 and 1 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Juan Manuel Vázquez and Los Andes agree another 2 years.
“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.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Los Andes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Rodríguez 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 dugout8 May 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Bautista Varela left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
BoardroomLos Andes pull $175.2K back off the table
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Los Andes is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Julián Navas 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.
Deportivo Armenio left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Los Andes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Rodríguez 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Tiziano Timpani 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.
12 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.
The terraces28 Feb 2028
The mood at Los Andes has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“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 Los Andes, and it is not being withdrawn.
Julián Navas 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Máximo Núñez 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of 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 Los Andes, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Los Andes people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The deal that would have taken Marko Brey to Agropecuario Argentino has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Los Andes with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Máximo Núñez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Los Andes can pretend not to have heard.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Estudiantes have kept their man, and Los Andes go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Los Andes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Arsenal waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Los Andes is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marko Brey will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Los Andes the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Los Andes 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 Los Andes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Gimnasia La Plata pay $60.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Máximo Núñez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Almirante Brown 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Los Andes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
86 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. River Plate lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at River Plate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
25 appearances at Uruguay Montevideo and the goals have stopped going in. River Plate lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
9 goals in 16 games at Sud America — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at River Plate updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Inti López trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Gerónimo Blanco’s exile
Matías Gómez 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 Nov 2027
Words at Los Andes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Máximo Núñez 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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Julián Rodríguez Vuotto signs something — a contract at Los Andes or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
117 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. River Plate lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” River Plate have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Nicolás Schiappacasse wants continental football; whether River Plate can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Nicolás Acevedo 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 Lautaro Pertusatti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lautaro Pertusatti, and the manager let it.
Loan watch1 Nov 2027
José Arbío’s loan is measured in nothing happening
11 clean sheets from 25 appearances at Uruguay Montevideo. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at River Plate, another week without a signature from Lautaro Pertusatti.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Lautaro Pérez 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. River Plate have lost him in all but the paperwork.
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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at River Plate is saying, and nobody at River Plate is enjoying the guessing.
Patricio Ostachuk 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.
Central Espanol wanted more than $40.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Two goals and a mark of 8.73 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” River Plate have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Santiago Mier will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around River Plate the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at River Plate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Tomás Benardoni 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Rodrigo Cabrera and River Plate agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.