Marked for Agustín Traina
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market18 Oct 2032
“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 The request is on a desk at Sol de America, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market18 Oct 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sol de America is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad18 Oct 2032
Ramiro Sordo 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 Oct 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sol de America this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout18 Oct 2032
Armando Godoy has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sol de America will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout18 Oct 2032
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ramiro Enríquez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market18 Oct 2032
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Loan watch18 Oct 2032
30 starts now, an average of 6.94, and the team sheet at Encarnacion has stopped being a question. Exactly what everybody signed up for.
The dugout18 Oct 2032
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad20 Sep 2032
The knee: Yury Oyarzo out for 43 days
43 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sol de America lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad20 Sep 2032
28 days out for Matías Pandiella after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sol de America will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market20 Sep 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sol de America can pretend not to have heard.
Market20 Sep 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sol de America is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad20 Sep 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sol de America this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Sep 2032
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ramiro Sordo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout20 Sep 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alex Paulino, and the manager let it.
The dugout20 Sep 2032
Nicolás Sánchez 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.
The dugout20 Sep 2032
Armando Godoy has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sol de America 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
Match13 Sep 2032
Full time on the season at Encarnacion
Position 11 on 28 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Market13 Sep 2032
“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.
Squad13 Sep 2032
Words at Encarnacion training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gonzalo Trindade 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.
Match11 Sep 2032
0‑2 to Tacuary, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout13 Sep 2032
“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.
Squad13 Sep 2032
Enderson Torrealba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout13 Sep 2032
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 0‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Market13 Sep 2032
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Encarnacion, another week without a signature from Jorge Murrugarra.
The dugout13 Sep 2032
Alex Cano knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alex Cano trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market23 Aug 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sol de America is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad23 Aug 2032
Dilan Gerez in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sol de America this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Aug 2032
Words at Sol de America training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Ortellado 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 dugout23 Aug 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Thiago Santi, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Aug 2032
Armando Godoy has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sol de America will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout23 Aug 2032
Ángel Sánchez knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sol de America, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market23 Aug 2032
Álex Segura runs his contract down
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Sol de America money.
Market23 Aug 2032
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Loan watch23 Aug 2032
28 starts now, an average of 6.93, and the team sheet at Encarnacion has stopped being a question. Exactly what everybody signed up for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Aug 2032
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market9 Aug 2032
“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 Encarnacion, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match7 Aug 2032
7 matches without a win, and then this, against General Caballero JLM. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad9 Aug 2032
Francisco Mongelos 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.
Boardroom9 Aug 2032
Wages swallow 163% of the Encarnacion income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Boardroom9 Aug 2032
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.
The dugout9 Aug 2032
The manager makes an example of Alex Cano
“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 ratings9 Aug 2032
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.82 on the card, and the Encarnacion support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Aug 2032
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sol de America will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market9 Aug 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sol de America is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout9 Aug 2032
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sol de America may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad9 Aug 2032
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ramiro Sordo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market9 Aug 2032
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad9 Aug 2032
Gustavo Medina and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout9 Aug 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alex Paulino, and the manager let it.
Market9 Aug 2032
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sol de America, another week without a signature from Gustavo Medina.
The dugout9 Aug 2032
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nicolás Sánchez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 May 2032
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 102 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad24 May 2032
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alex Peralta
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Encarnacion lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings24 May 2032
A defender's goal wins it for Encarnacion — 7.60
1 for Jorge Murrugarra, marked 7.60, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Market24 May 2032
Marvin Pérez has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Encarnacion they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad24 May 2032
Mauro Melgarejo 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.
Squad24 May 2032
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcelo Olivera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 May 2032
No hiding place for Alex Cano
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alex Cano, and the manager let it.
Match24 May 2032
Halfway: Encarnacion sit in position 8
18 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
Player ratings24 May 2032
Marked 7.65 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Encarnacion had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 May 2032
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 109 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad17 May 2032
Alex Peralta damages knee ligaments — 81 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 81 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.
Squad17 May 2032
Marcelo Olivera and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 May 2032
Enzo Ocampo gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Enzo Ocampo has just signed for Encarnacion, and for once the answer mattered.
The dugout17 May 2032
“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.
Match15 May 2032
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout17 May 2032
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout17 May 2032
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Encarnacion told Francisco Peña something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Player ratings17 May 2032
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Mar 2032
A knee injury of the worst kind for Walter Bogado
75 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Encarnacion lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market1 Mar 2032
Alex Cano 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 Encarnacion can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout1 Mar 2032
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Encarnacion may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match28 Feb 2032
6 matches without a win for Encarnacion
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Encarnacion are no longer polite ones.
Market1 Mar 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Encarnacion is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad1 Mar 2032
Francisco Mongelos 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.
Squad1 Mar 2032
Words at Encarnacion training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcelo Olivera 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 ratings1 Mar 2032
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.
The dugout1 Mar 2032
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Feb 2032
A knee injury of the worst kind for Walter Bogado
82 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Encarnacion lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout23 Feb 2032
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market23 Feb 2032
“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 Encarnacion, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match21 Feb 2032
No end in sight to Encarnacion's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Encarnacion has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad23 Feb 2032
Mauro Melgarejo 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.
Squad23 Feb 2032
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcelo Olivera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout23 Feb 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Walter Bogado, and the manager let it.
Player ratings23 Feb 2032
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match21 Feb 2032
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Dec 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Fabián Henríquez
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Encarnacion lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market29 Dec 2031
“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.
Market29 Dec 2031
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and River Plate waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Encarnacion is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad29 Dec 2031
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Encarnacion will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Transfer targets29 Dec 2031
Everything agreed with Sol de America, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The dugout29 Dec 2031
This is not rotation. Sebastián León has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Encarnacion is pretending otherwise.
Market29 Dec 2031
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Encarnacion have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad29 Dec 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcelo Olivera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets29 Dec 2031
Encarnacion asked and Sol de America said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market29 Dec 2031
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Sol de America have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market29 Dec 2031
Martín Núñez 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 Sol de America can pretend not to have heard.
Market29 Dec 2031
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets29 Dec 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Deportivo Capiata have kept their man, and Sol de America go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets29 Dec 2031
$710.0K was the most the club would pay and Libertad were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Market29 Dec 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sol de America is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad29 Dec 2031
Ángel Sánchez 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.
Squad29 Dec 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Paredes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad29 Dec 2031
“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 Sol de America know it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Mar 2031
“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 Sol de America, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market17 Mar 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sol de America is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad17 Mar 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sol de America this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout17 Mar 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicolás Nocetti, and the manager let it.
Squad17 Mar 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franco Ortellado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 Mar 2031
The manager has not finished forgetting Nahitan Nández'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.
Squad17 Mar 2031
10 new faces, and Sol de America 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.
Match15 Mar 2031
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout17 Mar 2031
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Angel Fernandez was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Sol de America dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match5 Mar 2031
A 3‑0 win over Pastoreo, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings10 Mar 2031
A brace, and Cristhian Ocampos takes the afternoon — 8.72
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Cristhian Ocampos provided it, and the 8.72 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market10 Mar 2031
“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.
Squad10 Mar 2031
Nicolás Nocetti and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Mar 2031
Words at Sol de America training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristhian Ocampos 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.
Match8 Mar 2031
Three points for Sol de America, 2‑1 the final word against Recoleta in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces10 Mar 2031
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Jorge Benegas 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.
Player ratings10 Mar 2031
Marked 8.17 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings10 Mar 2031
Iván Duarte was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. 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.