Marked for Danilo Fernández
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Feb 2027
Mauro Caballero damages knee ligaments — 44 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 44 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
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.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” General Caballero JLM may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match20 Feb 2027
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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Claudio Figueredo 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.
Match20 Feb 2027
Beaten 2‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“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 ratings22 Feb 2027
Ninety minutes of Derlis Mereles at his very best
Marked 8.09. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at General Caballero JLM.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giovanni Bogado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Alexis Cantero and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Sportivo Luqueno are still strangers to each other
8 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mateo Jara and Sportivo Luqueno agree another 4 years.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
Tomás Muro gets picked when it counts
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 Tomás Muro is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Jan 2027
90 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. General Caballero JLM lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Derlis Mereles 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jose Caceres is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market11 Jan 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Cristian Barrios has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Claudio Figueredo, and the manager let it.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
Carlos Urán has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at General Caballero JLM 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
Uneasy
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The arithmetic ran out, and everybody could see it coming from a distance. The hard summer starts now, and next season's fixtures will be full of unfamiliar names.
Squad4 Jan 2027
97 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. General Caballero JLM lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
The paperwork begins on Alex Franco
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. General Caballero JLM have done the hard part with Olimpia, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Claudio Figueredo 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
At 16 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Sportivo Trinidense wanted more than $63.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2026
Mauro Caballero damages knee ligaments — 105 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 105 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.
Transfer targets28 Dec 2026
Everything agreed with Huracán, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Miguel Benítez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets28 Dec 2026
An offer of $63.0K for Axel Cañete
General Caballero JLM have gone to Sportivo Trinidense with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets28 Dec 2026
General Caballero JLM asked and Olimpia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets28 Dec 2026
A loan enquiry to Gimnasia y Esgrima: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad28 Dec 2026
6 new faces, and General Caballero JLM 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.
Market28 Dec 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
Mauro Caballero damages knee ligaments — 112 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 112 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.
Market21 Dec 2026
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Squad21 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at General Caballero JLM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets21 Dec 2026
No deal for José Buhring at that price
General Caballero JLM offered $17.0K; Libertad said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Transfer targets21 Dec 2026
General Caballero JLM asked and Olimpia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad21 Dec 2026
No place for Bruno Ávila in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation General Caballero JLM are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market21 Dec 2026
He is 17, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Market21 Dec 2026
“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.