Marked for Agustín Traina
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Aug 2038
Tomás Bottari damages knee ligaments — 54 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 54 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.
Squad16 Aug 2038
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 86 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match14 Aug 2038
Matías Fernández had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Defensores Unidos were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Squad16 Aug 2038
“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.
Player ratings16 Aug 2038
Age has not caught Harol Romaña yet — 9.04
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.04 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market16 Aug 2038
Uriel Irizar has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Independiente Rivadavia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad16 Aug 2038
Matías Fernández 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.
Match14 Aug 2038
A 3‑3 draw with Defensores Unidos leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings16 Aug 2038
8 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Aug 2038
Tomás Bottari damages knee ligaments — 70 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 70 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.
Squad2 Aug 2038
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.
Squad2 Aug 2038
Matías Fernández 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.
Squad2 Aug 2038
“The easiest signature of my career.” Harol Romaña and Independiente Rivadavia agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match31 Jul 2038
Central Córdoba SdE left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market2 Aug 2038
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Market2 Aug 2038
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Player ratings2 Aug 2038
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 ratings2 Aug 2038
11 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Jul 2038
A knee injury of the worst kind for Tomás Bottari
78 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Independiente Rivadavia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad26 Jul 2038
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings26 Jul 2038
Age has not caught Sheyko Studer yet — 9.44
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.44 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad26 Jul 2038
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Independiente Rivadavia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jul 2038
Stefano Moreyra 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.
Match24 Jul 2038
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sheyko Studer. 1‑0 against Banfield, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings26 Jul 2038
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings26 Jul 2038
15 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.
Market26 Jul 2038
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sheyko Studer signs something — a contract at Independiente Rivadavia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 May 2038
Tomás Bottari: 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.” Independiente Rivadavia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match1 May 2038
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad3 May 2038
A one-man rearguard from Tomás Amato
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.
Player ratings3 May 2038
Age has not caught Sheyko Studer yet — 8.51
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.51 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad3 May 2038
Matías Fernández 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 May 2038
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefano Moreyra 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 ratings3 May 2038
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.31, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match1 May 2038
A 2‑2 draw with Aldosivi leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings3 May 2038
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Apr 2038
A one-man rearguard from Tomás Amato
There were 11 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.
Squad19 Apr 2038
Beto damages knee ligaments — 18 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
The terraces19 Apr 2038
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.
Player ratings19 Apr 2038
Two goals and a mark of 8.71 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings19 Apr 2038
Age has not caught Sheyko Studer yet — 8.11
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.11 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad19 Apr 2038
“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.
Match17 Apr 2038
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.
Squad19 Apr 2038
Matías Fernández 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.
Match17 Apr 2038
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Independiente Rivadavia and Sarmiento in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Oct 2037
Matías Fernández 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 Oct 2037
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefano Moreyra 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 ratings26 Oct 2037
Máximo Mendoza was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.72. 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2037
Agustín Traina was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.41. 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.
Match24 Oct 2037
The goal that put River Plate ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Independiente Rivadavia equalised, 2 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Squad26 Oct 2037
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nahuel Arena, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Oct 2037
A season average of 7.25 with 6 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match24 Oct 2037
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The terraces26 Oct 2037
Everybody has an opinion about Tomás Amato
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
Uneasy
Player ratings12 Oct 2037
Age has not caught Harol Romaña yet — 8.01
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.01 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad12 Oct 2037
Tomás Luna: 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.” Independiente Rivadavia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market12 Oct 2037
Carlos Russo 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 Independiente Rivadavia can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Oct 2037
Matías Fernández 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 Oct 2037
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Independiente Rivadavia has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad12 Oct 2037
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefano Moreyra 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 ratings12 Oct 2037
Ninety minutes of Máximo Mendoza at his very best
Marked 8.59. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Independiente Rivadavia.
Match10 Oct 2037
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Sep 2037
A one-man rearguard from Tomás Amato
There were 7 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.
Squad28 Sep 2037
Bautista Fernández was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2037
Harol Romaña 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.
Match26 Sep 2037
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings28 Sep 2037
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.
Squad28 Sep 2037
The manager has not finished forgetting Sheyko Studer'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
Match12 Sep 2037
Beaten 0‑3 by Belgrano, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market14 Sep 2037
Carlos Russo 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 Independiente Rivadavia can pretend not to have heard.
Squad14 Sep 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Independiente Rivadavia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2037
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefano Moreyra 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 Sep 2037
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jano Franco and Independiente Rivadavia agree another 1 years.
Boardroom14 Sep 2037
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad14 Sep 2037
7 goals and a season average of 7.21. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Market14 Sep 2037
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Independiente Rivadavia, another week without a signature from Marcos Narváez.
Player ratings14 Sep 2037
Successful dribbles: 11. 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
Uneasy
Squad24 Aug 2037
A knee injury of the worst kind for Franco De Luca
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Independiente Rivadavia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match22 Aug 2037
5‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings24 Aug 2037
Sheyko Studer, 34, rolls back the years — 10.00
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 10.00 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad24 Aug 2037
The match ball belongs to Sheyko Studer, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad24 Aug 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Independiente Rivadavia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2037
Stefano Moreyra 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 ratings24 Aug 2037
Máximo Mendoza was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.87. 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2037
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.81, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Aug 2037
Franco De Luca damages knee ligaments — 39 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2037
Age has not caught Harol Romaña yet — 9.01
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.01 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad3 Aug 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Independiente Rivadavia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2037
Harol Romaña 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 ratings3 Aug 2037
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad3 Aug 2037
“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.
Match1 Aug 2037
A 1‑1 draw with Central Córdoba SdE leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Market3 Aug 2037
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Sheyko Studer’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Player ratings3 Aug 2037
A mark of 5.73 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings27 Jul 2037
Age has not caught Harol Romaña yet — 8.54
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.54 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad27 Jul 2037
16 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad27 Jul 2037
Tomás Bottari 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.
Squad27 Jul 2037
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Harol Romaña 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 ratings27 Jul 2037
A performance of 9.00 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings27 Jul 2037
Bautista Fernández was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.56. 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.
Squad27 Jul 2037
The manager makes an example of Valentín Gelos
“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.
Market27 Jul 2037
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tomás Bottari signs something — a contract at Independiente Rivadavia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 Jul 2037
Marcos Narváez: 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.” Independiente Rivadavia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match18 Jul 2037
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Independiente Rivadavia are no longer polite ones.
Squad20 Jul 2037
Matías Fernández 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.
Squad20 Jul 2037
Harol Romaña 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 ratings20 Jul 2037
Marked 8.04 — 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.
Squad20 Jul 2037
The manager makes an example of Nahuel Arena
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The terraces20 Jul 2037
Everybody has an opinion about Tomás Amato
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
The terraces18 May 2037
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.
Squad18 May 2037
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
Squad18 May 2037
Jano Franco: 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.” Independiente Rivadavia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad18 May 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Independiente Rivadavia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 May 2037
Stefano Moreyra 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.
Match16 May 2037
River Plate left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings18 May 2037
10 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
Player ratings18 May 2037
A mark of 5.74 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
Player ratings18 May 2037
Jano Franco changes it off the bench
He was not in the side at half past three and he had settled it before five. Half an hour, and Independiente Rivadavia had a different afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Apr 2037
70 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Independiente Rivadavia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces20 Apr 2037
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.
Squad20 Apr 2037
Marcos Narváez: 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.” Independiente Rivadavia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings20 Apr 2037
Defensive actions: 26, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings20 Apr 2037
24 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Squad20 Apr 2037
Tomás Bottari 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Mar 2037
91 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Independiente Rivadavia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad30 Mar 2037
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market30 Mar 2037
“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.
Squad30 Mar 2037
Matías Fernández 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.
Squad30 Mar 2037
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefano Moreyra 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 ratings30 Mar 2037
Ninety minutes of Máximo Mendoza at his very best
Marked 8.53. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Independiente Rivadavia.
Player ratings30 Mar 2037
The chances came and went for Sheyko Studer
12 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Player ratings30 Mar 2037
Shots: 11. 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
Steady
Squad16 Mar 2037
105 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Independiente Rivadavia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match14 Mar 2037
Quilmes will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Independiente Rivadavia were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings16 Mar 2037
Age has not caught Sheyko Studer yet — 9.86
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.86 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad16 Mar 2037
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad16 Mar 2037
Bautista Fernández 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.
Squad16 Mar 2037
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stefano Moreyra 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 ratings16 Mar 2037
A performance of 9.37 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings16 Mar 2037
Marked 9.28 — 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 ratings16 Mar 2037
Marked 8.55. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Independiente Rivadavia.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Mar 2037
112 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Independiente Rivadavia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings9 Mar 2037
Age has not caught Sheyko Studer yet — 8.11
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.11 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad9 Mar 2037
Tomás Bottari 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 Mar 2037
Stefano Moreyra 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 ratings9 Mar 2037
A performance of 8.69 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings9 Mar 2037
Defensive actions: 17. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings9 Mar 2037
Successful dribbles: 9. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Mar 2037
The words a physio says slowly. 120 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.
Market2 Mar 2037
“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.
Match28 Feb 2037
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Independiente Rivadavia are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings2 Mar 2037
Sheyko Studer, 34, rolls back the years — 8.31
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.31 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad2 Mar 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Independiente Rivadavia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Mar 2037
Harol Romaña 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.
Squad2 Mar 2037
Tomás Amato gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Feb 2037
128 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Independiente Rivadavia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces23 Feb 2037
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.
Player ratings23 Feb 2037
Sheyko Studer, 34, rolls back the years — 9.28
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.28 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match21 Feb 2037
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.
Squad23 Feb 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Independiente Rivadavia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Feb 2037
Stefano Moreyra 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.
Match21 Feb 2037
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad23 Feb 2037
Matías Fernández has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Independiente Rivadavia 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.
Match21 Feb 2037
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.