Marked for Facundo González
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market9 Jul 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 The request is on a desk at San Telmo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings9 Jul 2029
Alan Falkiewicz pops up at the right end — 7.41
7.41, 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.
Squad9 Jul 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” San Telmo may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Fabián Henríquez 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.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Joaquín Enrico 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.
Boardroom9 Jul 2029
Wages eat 170% of everything San Telmo earn
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.
Squad9 Jul 2029
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Market9 Jul 2029
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. San Telmo will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
Felipe Castro has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at San Telmo can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market2 Jul 2029
“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.
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
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.
Player ratings2 Jul 2029
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad2 Jul 2029
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.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Words at San Telmo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Enrico 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.
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
$591.1K of the owner's money at San Telmo
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Match30 Jun 2029
1‑2 to Ferro Carril Oeste, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad2 Jul 2029
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom25 Jun 2029
Pressure builds in the San Telmo boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad25 Jun 2029
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Market25 Jun 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market25 Jun 2029
San Martín come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and San Telmo did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market25 Jun 2029
Only the photograph left for Dante Capriati
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dante Capriati will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around San Telmo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Fabián Henríquez 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.
Match23 Jun 2029
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between San Telmo and Central Norte, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Match23 Jun 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Facundo González. 4‑2 against Central Norte, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Franco Aguirre 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
Crisis
Market18 Jun 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 San Telmo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match16 Jun 2029
6 matches without a win for San Telmo
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around San Telmo are no longer polite ones.
Squad18 Jun 2029
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.
Player ratings18 Jun 2029
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Words at San Telmo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Enrico 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.
Boardroom18 Jun 2029
No signings allowed at San Telmo
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Squad18 Jun 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sergio Jara, and the manager let it.
Market18 Jun 2029
Everyone has stopped pretending: Güemes will make the call about Dante Capriati this week. San Telmo have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Match16 Jun 2029
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market11 Jun 2029
“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.
Match9 Jun 2029
The wait goes on for San Telmo
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.
Player ratings11 Jun 2029
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Fabián Henríquez 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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Joaquín Enrico 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.
Boardroom11 Jun 2029
Wages eat 140% of everything San Telmo earn
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.
Market11 Jun 2029
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. San Telmo will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Lucas Baldunciel 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.
Match9 Jun 2029
Point won or two lost for San Telmo?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Almirante Brown? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
Felipe Castro has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at San Telmo can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market4 Jun 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match4 Jun 2029
San Telmo sink to position 16
16 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
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.
Match2 Jun 2029
4 matches without a win for San Telmo
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around San Telmo are no longer polite ones.
Squad4 Jun 2029
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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Words at San Telmo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Aguirre 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.
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
$428.0K of the owner's money at San Telmo
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Match2 Jun 2029
Chacarita Juniors left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market21 May 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad21 May 2029
Fabián Henríquez 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.
Player ratings21 May 2029
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 May 2029
Joaquín Enrico 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.
Squad21 May 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.
Match19 May 2029
0‑1 to San Martín SJ, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom21 May 2029
San Telmo cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Squad21 May 2029
Ramiro Montoya has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at San Telmo 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.
Player ratings21 May 2029
Marked 5.23, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 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 San Telmo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 May 2029
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.
Player ratings14 May 2029
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match12 May 2029
1‑3 to Defensores Unidos, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 May 2029
“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.
Boardroom14 May 2029
Wages eat 139% of everything San Telmo earn
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.
Squad14 May 2029
Words at San Telmo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Aguirre 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.
Squad14 May 2029
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 terraces14 May 2029
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom7 May 2029
Felipe Castro has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at San Telmo can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market7 May 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom7 May 2029
The San Telmo board call everybody in
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.
Market7 May 2029
Only the photograph left for Luis Montilla
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.
Squad7 May 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Javier Iritier and San Telmo agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings7 May 2029
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 23 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad7 May 2029
Fabián Henríquez 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.
Squad7 May 2029
Joaquín Enrico 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.
Boardroom7 May 2029
The owner puts $291.5K into San Telmo
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 Apr 2029
Independiente ended it 2‑5. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings23 Apr 2029
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 7.62, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
The terraces23 Apr 2029
San Telmo are taken apart by Independiente — and the town wants answers
It finished 2-5. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
The terraces23 Apr 2029
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 7 of the 34 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad23 Apr 2029
There were 6 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.
Market23 Apr 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Fabián Henríquez 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.
Match18 Apr 2029
Ivo Molinari among the goals in a wild afternoon
7 goals in one match, Ivo Molinari on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of San Telmo and Independiente.
Player ratings23 Apr 2029
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market16 Apr 2029
“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.
Match14 Apr 2029
No end in sight to San Telmo's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at San Telmo has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings16 Apr 2029
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad16 Apr 2029
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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words at San Telmo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Enrico 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.
Match14 Apr 2029
The goals have deserted San Telmo
3 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.
Squad16 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.
Match14 Apr 2029
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom16 Apr 2029
128% of the income goes out in wages at San Telmo
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market9 Apr 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 San Telmo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market9 Apr 2029
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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Fabián Henríquez 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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Joaquín Enrico 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.
Match7 Apr 2029
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad9 Apr 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Joaquín Enrico, and the manager let it.
Player ratings9 Apr 2029
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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Ramiro Montoya has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at San Telmo 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.
Market9 Apr 2029
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Ernesto Pontoriero has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at San Telmo.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Mar 2029
“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.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
A defender's afternoon for Juan Yangali
Defensive actions: 23. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad19 Mar 2029
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.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at San Telmo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Enrico 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 ratings19 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match17 Mar 2029
It finished 1‑0, and it was Facundo González’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to San Telmo.
Boardroom19 Mar 2029
Wages eat 127% of everything San Telmo earn
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.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
Marked 7.60. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad19 Mar 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Mar 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 San Telmo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Luis Montilla: 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.” San Telmo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market12 Mar 2029
Luis Montilla has one foot out of the door
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.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Fabián Henríquez 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.
Squad12 Mar 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.
Match10 Mar 2029
Temperley left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Franco Aguirre 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 ratings12 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
Shots: 9. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Felipe Castro has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
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.
The terraces5 Mar 2029
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 9 of the 34 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Market5 Mar 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad5 Mar 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Juan Yangali commits to San Telmo for another 4 years.
Squad5 Mar 2029
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.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Words at San Telmo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Enrico 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.
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
$98.7K of the owner's money at San Telmo
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
Two goals and a mark of 8.00 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Fabián Henríquez 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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Joaquín Enrico 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 terraces26 Feb 2029
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Facundo González 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.
Match24 Feb 2029
Central Norte made San Telmo work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Boardroom26 Feb 2029
San Telmo cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Boardroom26 Feb 2029
San Telmo are $18.1M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad26 Feb 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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Joaquín Enrico has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at San Telmo 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Feb 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad19 Feb 2029
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad19 Feb 2029
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.
Squad19 Feb 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Joaquín Enrico, and the manager let it.
Boardroom19 Feb 2029
128% of the income goes out in wages at San Telmo
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.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Words at San Telmo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Aguirre 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 ratings19 Feb 2029
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market19 Feb 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Facundo González’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Feb 2029
Carlos Casas breaks a bone — 19 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market12 Feb 2029
“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.
Market12 Feb 2029
Luis Montilla has one foot out of the door
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.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Fabián Henríquez 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.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Joaquín Enrico 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.
Squad12 Feb 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.
Market12 Feb 2029
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Ignacio Álvarez has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at San Telmo.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
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.
Match10 Feb 2029
Point won or two lost for San Telmo?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Almirante Brown? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Jan 2029
Carlos Casas breaks a bone — 40 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 40 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market22 Jan 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 San Telmo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 Jan 2029
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.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words at San Telmo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Enrico 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.
Boardroom22 Jan 2029
Wages eat 115% of everything San Telmo earn
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.
Squad22 Jan 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Jan 2029
Carlos Casas breaks a bone — 47 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 47 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market15 Jan 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 San Telmo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market15 Jan 2029
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.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Fabián Henríquez 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.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Joaquín Enrico 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.
Squad15 Jan 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Dec 2028
Carlos Casas breaks a bone — 68 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 68 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market25 Dec 2028
“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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at San Telmo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Enrico 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.
Boardroom25 Dec 2028
Wages eat 113% of everything San Telmo earn
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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Dec 2028
Carlos Casas breaks a bone — 75 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 75 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market18 Dec 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 San Telmo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom18 Dec 2028
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at San Telmo now.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Fabián Henríquez 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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Franco Aguirre 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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Dec 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Matías Ledesma
25 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.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Carlos Casas breaks a bone — 89 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 89 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom4 Dec 2028
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Felipe Castro has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom4 Dec 2028
The San Telmo board call everybody in
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.
Market4 Dec 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Fabián Henríquez 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.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Joaquín Enrico 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.
Market4 Dec 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Joaquín Enrico’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market30 Oct 2028
“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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at San Telmo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Enrico 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom2 Oct 2028
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.
Market2 Oct 2028
“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.
Boardroom2 Oct 2028
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.
Squad2 Oct 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Javier Iritier commits to San Telmo for another 2 years.
Squad2 Oct 2028
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.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words at San Telmo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Enrico 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Sep 2028
No end in sight to San Telmo's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at San Telmo has to find a result from somewhere.
Market11 Sep 2028
Agustín Báez hands in a written request
“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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
“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 ratings11 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
Jerónimo Porto Lapegüe was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.34. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Rodrigo Dinocco 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.
Loan watch11 Sep 2028
“I did not go to Sharjah to sit and watch. I want to come back to San Telmo and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Felipe Castro has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Match4 Sep 2028
San Telmo are in real trouble now
Position 16, 32 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market4 Sep 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match2 Sep 2028
8 matches without a win for San Telmo
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around San Telmo are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
The San Telmo board call everybody in
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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Fabián Henríquez 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.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Wages eat 156% of everything San Telmo earn
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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Franco Aguirre 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
Crisis
Market28 Aug 2028
Renzo Uriburu hands in a written request
“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.
Match26 Aug 2028
The wait goes on for San Telmo
7 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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
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.
Boardroom28 Aug 2028
The numbers do not look good at San Telmo
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.
The terraces28 Aug 2028
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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
“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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words at San Telmo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Aguirre 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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Lucas Baldunciel'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.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.55 on the card, and the San Telmo support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces21 Aug 2028
Anger at San Telmo spills outside the ground
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.
Boardroom21 Aug 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at San Telmo
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market21 Aug 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 San Telmo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match19 Aug 2028
The wait goes on for San Telmo
6 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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Fabián Henríquez 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.
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Aug 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Facundo González, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Aug 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Franco Aguirre'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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Joaquín Enrico has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at San Telmo 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Aug 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match12 Aug 2028
5 matches without a win for San Telmo
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around San Telmo are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
Juan Yangali pops up at the right end — 7.78
7.78, 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
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.
Match12 Aug 2028
Juan Yangali scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Colón, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at San Telmo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Aguirre 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Elías Peralta commits to San Telmo for another 3 years.
Squad14 Aug 2028
“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 ratings14 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
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.
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
The San Telmo board call everybody in
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.
Market7 Aug 2028
“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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
130 appearances across 8 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Match5 Aug 2028
No end in sight to San Telmo's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at San Telmo has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Fabián Henríquez 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.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
171% of the income goes out in wages at San Telmo
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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Juan Yangali, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 Jul 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad31 Jul 2028
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.
Boardroom31 Jul 2028
The numbers do not look good at San Telmo
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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lucas Baldunciel, and the manager let it.
Match29 Jul 2028
0‑1 to Chacarita Juniors, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Carlos Casas 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 ratings31 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad31 Jul 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Lucas Baldunciel'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.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
An afternoon Gastón Viera will want back
Marked 5.52. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Jul 2028
“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.
Player ratings10 Jul 2028
Fabián Henríquez, 33, rolls back the years — 9.13
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.13 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market10 Jul 2028
Only the photograph left for Ian Pardo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ian Pardo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around San Telmo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Fabián Henríquez 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.
Boardroom10 Jul 2028
Wages eat 154% of everything San Telmo earn
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.
The terraces10 Jul 2028
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.
Match8 Jul 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Facundo González. 2‑0 against Temperley, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at San Telmo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Casas 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 ratings10 Jul 2028
17 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings19 Jun 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.68, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market19 Jun 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 San Telmo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market19 Jun 2028
San Telmo say no — this time
The offer from Patronato for Maximiliano Campos 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at San Telmo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Enrico 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 ratings19 Jun 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.77, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Market19 Jun 2028
The phone has started ringing about Luis Montilla again, and this time the name on the line is Leones. San Telmo are listening politely and promising nothing.
Match17 Jun 2028
San Telmo settle it inside twenty minutes
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Agropecuario Argentino spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Jun 2028
Boca Juniors ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Market12 Jun 2028
“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.
Market12 Jun 2028
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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Fabián Henríquez 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.
Match10 Jun 2028
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad12 Jun 2028
The manager makes an example of Juan Yangali
“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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Franco Aguirre 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.
Boardroom12 Jun 2028
Wages eat 114% of everything San Telmo earn
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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Franco Aguirre'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
Crisis
Market22 May 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match20 May 2028
No end in sight to San Telmo's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at San Telmo has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad22 May 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad22 May 2028
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.
Squad22 May 2028
“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.
Match20 May 2028
San Martín SJ left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at San Telmo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Salerno 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 ratings22 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The terraces22 May 2028
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market15 May 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 San Telmo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match13 May 2028
The wait goes on for San Telmo
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.
Market15 May 2028
Ian Pardo has one foot out of the door
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.
Boardroom15 May 2028
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Ian Pardo 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.
Squad15 May 2028
Fabián Henríquez 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.
Squad15 May 2028
Joaquín Enrico 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.
Squad15 May 2028
37 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Boardroom15 May 2028
Wages eat 116% of everything San Telmo earn
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market17 Apr 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Fabián Henríquez 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Joaquín Enrico 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.
Match15 Apr 2028
Colón made San Telmo work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.48, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Boardroom17 Apr 2028
Wages eat 118% of everything San Telmo earn
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.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 17 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
3.27. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
Squad17 Apr 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces3 Apr 2028
Anger at San Telmo spills outside the ground
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.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at San Telmo
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.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
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.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Fabián Henríquez 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Joaquín Enrico 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.
Match1 Apr 2028
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad3 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Juan Yangali, and the manager let it.
Market3 Apr 2028
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Jerónimo Porto Lapegüe has his answer from San Telmo; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
A brace, and Matías Salerno takes the afternoon — 9.69
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Matías Salerno provided it, and the 9.69 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market20 Mar 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market20 Mar 2028
Only the photograph left for Antonio Roble
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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Fabián Henríquez 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.
Match18 Mar 2028
A 3‑1 win over Chaco For Ever, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Boardroom20 Mar 2028
137% of the income goes out in wages at San Telmo
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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at San Telmo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Casas 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 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Antonio Roble, and the manager let it.
Squad20 Mar 2028
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Feb 2028
The wait goes on for San Telmo
9 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.
Market28 Feb 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 San Telmo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 Feb 2028
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.
Match26 Feb 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Carlos Casas 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
The manager makes an example of Javier Iritier
“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 ratings28 Feb 2028
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.
Squad28 Feb 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 San Telmo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The terraces28 Feb 2028
Everybody has an opinion about Juan Yangali
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Feb 2028
7 matches without a win for San Telmo
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around San Telmo are no longer polite ones.
Market14 Feb 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad14 Feb 2028
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.
Boardroom14 Feb 2028
The numbers do not look good at San Telmo
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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
“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 ratings14 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match12 Feb 2028
0‑1 to Almirante Brown, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Carlos Casas 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 Feb 2028
Facundo Blasco dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces23 Aug 2027
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.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at San Telmo
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Lucas Baldunciel, 35, rolls back the years — 7.96
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.96 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market23 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 San Telmo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market23 Aug 2027
San Telmo say no — this time
The offer from JS Kabylie for Maximiliano Campos 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.
Squad23 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 San Telmo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at San Telmo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Enrico 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 terraces23 Aug 2027
At 20 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.
Match21 Aug 2027
A 2‑0 win over Mitre, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.