It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nueva Chicago this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Nueva Chicago can tell you which week it ends in.
Marked 6.61 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
0‑2 to Belgrano, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Jenluis Pérez 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.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
Luciano Jachfe was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Mateo Abreu is living that version at Nueva Chicago, and it tends to show in the first month.
Argentino de Merlo will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Lucas Delgado has pre-agreed a move to Nueva Chicago, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Huracán left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Words at Nueva Chicago training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jenluis Pérez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Facundo Lemos 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.
At 19 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Nueva Chicago will try not to make too much of it.
“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 Nueva Chicago know it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Nueva Chicago know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Tiziano Pasquarelli is on it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Valentín Pucheta has written the date down.
Evelio Cardozo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
0‑2 to River Plate, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Leonel Ortíz 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Agustín Lombardi after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody at Nueva Chicago 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.
7.83, 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.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nueva Chicago this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Lemos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Nobody at Nueva Chicago 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Agustín Lombardi after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Almería had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Nueva Chicago is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Miguel Méndez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ricardo Costa is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Sebastián Alonso is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
SquadJenluis Pérez falls out with a teammate over standards
Player ratingsSebastián Dátolo ran the middle of the pitch — 6.58
Everything agreed with Comunicaciones, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
$340.0K on the table at Huracán. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sebastián Dátolo and Nueva Chicago agree another 4 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Lemos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mauro Orué and Nueva Chicago agree another 1 years.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Dylan Gissi 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.
“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 Nueva Chicago know it.
Nobody at Nueva Chicago 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nueva Chicago can pretend not to have heard.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nueva Chicago this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Nueva Chicago now know that too.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
34 appearances at Real Pilar and the goals keep coming. Nueva Chicago are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Dylan Gissi 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.
“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 Nueva Chicago, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Evelio Cardozo. 2‑1 against Comunicaciones, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 23 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.
Everybody at Nueva Chicago saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dylan Gissi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two goals and a mark of 7.96 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Nueva Chicago is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Evelio Cardozo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Nueva Chicago ran out of time with Estudiantes. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Nueva Chicago will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Alvarado waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Nueva Chicago is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The deal with River Plate is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Nueva Chicago had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Defensa y Justicia, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Luciano Jachfe 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.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words at Nueva Chicago 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.
Nueva Chicago asked and Colón said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
In brief
Looking aheadThe big one: San Martín SJ come into view
Player ratingsMatías Bergara was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Nueva Chicago will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Position 3, 40 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Estudiantes keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Nueva Chicago is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Luciano Jachfe was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Nueva Chicago will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Nueva Chicago people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nueva Chicago can pretend not to have heard.
Luciano Jachfe 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 phone has started ringing about Matías Romero again, and this time the name on the line is Central Espanol. Nueva Chicago are listening politely and promising nothing.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 13 combined actions and a mark of 6.73, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Dylan Gissi 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nueva Chicago can pretend not to have heard.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
A 1‑0 win over Estudiantes, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Nueva Chicago training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dylan Gissi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Nueva Chicago has been clear about where Gonzalo Trindade stands, which is more than many ever get.
Marked 6.83 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Chaco For Ever will want this one forgotten quickly: 6‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Nueva Chicago were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
“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 Nueva Chicago, and it is not being withdrawn.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.78, and 4 involvements.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Bruno Palazzo wants continental football; whether Nueva Chicago can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Luciano Jachfe 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.
6 goals in one match, Braian Toloza on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Nueva Chicago and Chaco For Ever.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
In brief
SquadWords at Nueva Chicago training over how hard people work
Player ratingsSebastián Cocimano was on a different afternoon to everybody else
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nueva Chicago can pretend not to have heard.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Matías Vera 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dylan Gissi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Agustín Lombardi on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Nueva Chicago they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Elías Machuca 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.
Luciano Jachfe was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
A 2‑0 win over Agropecuario Argentino, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Dylan Gissi falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Matías Romero has his answer from Nueva Chicago; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Almirante Brown go through and Nueva Chicago go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nueva Chicago can pretend not to have heard.
Luciano Jachfe 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.
Marked 6.71 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dylan Gissi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A point taken on 85 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
It needed Julián Sardinas to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Chacarita Juniors, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
In brief
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Leandro Aguirre
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Bruno Palazzo wants continental football; whether Nueva Chicago can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Sebastián Dátolo 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.
“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 ratings6 Mar 2028
Matías Bergara was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nueva Chicago this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Sebastián Cocimano has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
In brief
SquadMatías Vera falls out with a teammate over standards
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.98, and 2 involvements.
Evelio Cardozo 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 39 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Nueva Chicago is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Nueva Chicago training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dylan Gissi 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 dugout21 Feb 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Agustín Lombardi kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Nueva Chicago told Dylan Gissi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Talleres will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Nueva Chicago were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Evelio Cardozo provided it, and the 7.86 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 Nueva Chicago, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nueva Chicago moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Agustín Lombardi, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.72 beside his name.
Luciano Jachfe 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.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Leandro Aguirre is a Nueva Chicago player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
The offer from Alcorcón for Matías Romero 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Leonel Ortíz had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Luciano Jachfe 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.
Nueva Chicago asked and Independiente said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dylan Gissi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.