Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Agung Widnyana obliged against Persis. 2‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Bali United.
PSBS Biak will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Bali United were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.85 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
7.98, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Jort van der Sande 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.
He is 23 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mirza Mustafić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bali United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Bali United now know that too.
“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.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at Bali United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mirza Mustafić 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.
Loan watch1 May 2028
Dikri Yusron is tired of being somebody else's player
“Another season, another badge, another dressing room to win over. I would like one pre-season at Bali United where somebody actually looks at me.” He belongs to Semen Padang until the spell ends; the argument is with the club that owns him.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jort van der Sande provided it, and the 8.67 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.83 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Thomas Lam scored, was marked 7.40, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.70 for the rest of it.
7 goals in one match, Jort van der Sande on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Bali United and Semen Padang.
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.
Alex 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 dugout17 Apr 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Marinus Saddil kept it short after the 5‑2 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Thiago Diniz
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Facundo Blasco
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Mirza Mustafić scored, was marked 7.82, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Diego Campos 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 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. San Telmo 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 San Telmo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 23 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.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
A 1‑0 win over Ferrocarril Midland, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“I watch every San Telmo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Bali United runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bali United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Bali United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thijmen Goppel 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mirza Mustafić. 2‑1 against Persis, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Something was said to Facundo Blasco and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
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.” Marinus Saddil, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The captaincy has been taken off Jort van der Sande. Bali United will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Bali United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
5 new faces, and Bali United are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Bali United told Teppei Yachida something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bali United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Persis next, and one man in the Bali United dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Diego Campos signs something — a contract at Bali United or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Bali United. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Jort van der Sande 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.
0‑1 to Persib, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Bali United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mirza Mustafić 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Bali United are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout20 Mar 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 0‑1 Marinus Saddil left the room before anybody could ask which.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Bali United know it.
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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bali United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bali United 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Bali United will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Marinus Saddil was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Bali United dressing room was either.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 13 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bali United can pretend not to have heard.
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 deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Bali United will try again when the window opens; Persija may not be selling by then.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Bali United will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
2 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
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.
Add another name to the list: JIPPO have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Alexis Orellano. The answer from San Telmo has not changed — yet.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Telmo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Martín Rodríguez has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Pedro Arias is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Alex has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Jort van der Sande 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 Thijmen Goppel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bali United have made the call to San Telmo. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. San Telmo have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Facundo Blasco 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 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. San Telmo know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
65 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee San Telmo could ask drops and the wages Rodrigo Dinocco can ask rise.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at San Telmo would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Dante Capriati on the training pitch
Matías Salerno 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.
San Telmo asked and Almirante Brown said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at San Telmo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Máximo Munarriz 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 list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Nicolás Baigorria may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at San Telmo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Telmo can pretend not to have heard.
The deal that would have taken Luis Montilla to San Martín has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to San Telmo with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at San Telmo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martín 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Luis Montilla has his answer from San Telmo; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The offer from Almagro for Facundo Blasco 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.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around San Telmo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Everything agreed with Almirante Brown, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
San Telmo asked and All Boys 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 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. San Telmo have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around San Telmo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Telmo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Agropecuario Argentino have kept their man, and San Telmo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Máximo Munarriz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Banfield waiting with a shirt. Nobody at San Telmo is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” San Telmo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Elías Brítez 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.
San Telmo asked and Chaco For Ever said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
14 shut-outs in 41 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Juan Pablo Rial has been having a lot of them.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at San Telmo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Dinocco 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at San Telmo has been clear about where Rodrigo Dinocco stands, which is more than many ever get.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Iñaki Larthirigoyen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
93 minutes played. Franco Tassitani found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Comunicaciones went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
“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 San Telmo, and it is not being withdrawn.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Franco Tassitani did not need any: 8.04, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
6 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at San Telmo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Elías Brítez 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Luis Montilla 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.
13 clean sheets from 39 appearances at Villa Dálmine. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Baldunciel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
5 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.
He is 23 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.
38 appearances at Villa Dálmine and the goals have stopped going in. San Telmo lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
Marked 7.36 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, San Telmo had the best player on the pitch.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at San Telmo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lázaro Brítez 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.
“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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Telmo can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around San Telmo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at San Telmo can tell you which week it ends in.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Telmo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Matías Salerno 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lázaro Brítez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Brown de Adrogué.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Iñaki Larthirigoyen signs something — a contract at San Telmo or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Facundo Blasco trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
57 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luis Montilla will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around San Telmo 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 San Telmo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
0‑1 to Flandria, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at San Telmo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Baldunciel 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.
“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.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
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 0‑1 Martín Peralta left the room before anybody could ask which.
10 clean sheets from 34 appearances at Villa Dálmine. 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.
Real Pilar will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. San Telmo were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Matías Salerno provided it, and the 9.13 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Antonio Roble will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around San Telmo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Elías Brítez 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Real Pilar tried to reorganise, San Telmo did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Argentino de Merlo will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. San Telmo were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
The phone has started ringing about Iñaki Larthirigoyen again, and this time the name on the line is Astana. San Telmo are listening politely and promising nothing.
7.88, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Everybody at San Telmo saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Matías Salerno 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.
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at San Telmo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Baldunciel 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Javier Iritier at his very best
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Telmo can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luis Montilla will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around San Telmo 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 San Telmo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 San Telmo and a proper look at me.” He remains Fafe’s player until the spell runs out — but the argument is with the club that owns him.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Máximo Munarriz is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Lázaro Brítez 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Laureano Romero has his answer from San Telmo; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
In brief
The dugoutDylan Fernández is still being punished for one mistake
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason San Telmo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 San Telmo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around San Telmo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Telmo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Nueva Chicago have kept their man, and San Telmo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is 23 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.
8 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 offer from Niki Volos for Facundo Blasco 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.
Elías Brítez 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.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
1 academy players handed senior numbers at San Telmo
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Cóndor has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
A point taken on 93 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Telmo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at San Telmo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Renzo Uriburu 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.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Elías Brítez has moved up it.
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.
The arithmetic ran out, and everybody could see it coming from a distance. The hard summer starts now, and next season's fixtures will be full of unfamiliar names.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at San Telmo is running low.
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.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Telmo can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Marítimo de La Guaira for Juan Pablo Rial 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Telmo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at San Telmo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonel Pollacchi 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Juan Motroni 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 list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Leonel Pollacchi may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Javier Iritier trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
Boardroom$425.0K taken back off the San Telmo table
The dugoutFacundo Blasco has become a man the manager trusts
BoardroomOpen for business: San Telmo enter the window
The mood at San Telmo 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 San Telmo, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at San Telmo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Baldunciel 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
Elías Brítez is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at San Telmo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Juan Cruz Zurbriggen signs something — a contract at San Telmo or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. San Telmo 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 San Telmo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Luis Alberto Ríos has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Nacho has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Liam Pereyra is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Baldunciel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Telmo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Alexis Orellano is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Iñaki Larthirigoyen, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Renzo Uriburu 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Fabián Henríquez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Juan Yangali signs something — a contract at San Telmo or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at San Telmo has been clear about where Maximiliano Campos stands, which is more than many ever get.
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 Facundo Blasco is on it.
Juan Cruz Zurbriggen 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.
“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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
16 new faces, and San Telmo are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lautaro López was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Juan Yangali
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Facundo Blasco did not need any: 7.63, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.87 for the rest of 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 San Telmo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between San Telmo and Ferro Carril Oeste, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
At 22 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.
Three points for San Telmo, 1‑0 the final word against Nueva Chicago in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at San Telmo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Motroni 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.