Marked for Joaquín Verde
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market14 Jan 2030
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Francisco Coirolo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Fenix the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad14 Jan 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fenix this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market14 Jan 2030
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Guillermo Pereira’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market14 Jan 2030
The clock does Axel Pérez’s negotiating for him
7 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Fenix could ask drops and the wages Axel Pérez can ask rise.
Market14 Jan 2030
“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.
Squad14 Jan 2030
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Santiago Rodríguez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Nov 2029
Fenix refuse to drop out of the race
Position 1, 46 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.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Tempers go at Fenix
Bryan Olivera 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 Nov 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market5 Nov 2029
Bruno Buero has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Fenix they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad5 Nov 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fenix this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Nov 2029
The medical room confirms 46 days on the sidelines for Luciano Tiscornia, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad5 Nov 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leonardo Villán, and the manager let it.
Boardroom5 Nov 2029
The numbers do not look good at Fenix
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Market5 Nov 2029
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 Oct 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Fenix may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market15 Oct 2029
Bruno Buero 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 Fenix can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Tempers go at Fenix
Bryan Olivera 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
Upbeat
Market8 Oct 2029
Only the photograph left for Bruno Buero
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bruno Buero will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Fenix the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad8 Oct 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fenix this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Oct 2029
37 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match3 Sep 2029
Fenix up to position 1
46 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Tempers go at Fenix
Bryan Olivera 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 Sep 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad27 Aug 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fenix this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Aug 2029
The manager makes an example of Alex Silva
“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 Aug 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Guillermo Pereira’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match9 Jul 2029
Fenix refuse to drop out of the race
Position 1, 36 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.
Player ratings9 Jul 2029
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 Jul 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bryan Olivera and Fenix agree another 2 years.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Tempers go at Fenix
Bryan Olivera 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.
Match7 Jul 2029
6 unbeaten for Fenix
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Fenix did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings9 Jul 2029
Marked 9.20 — 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.
Squad9 Jul 2029
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match7 Jul 2029
A 1‑0 win over Rampla Juniors, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings9 Jul 2029
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 19 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Mar 2029
Bruno Buero 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 Fenix can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Mar 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fenix this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad5 Mar 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Sebastián de Marco commits to Fenix for another 4 years.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.19, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match3 Mar 2029
Artigas made Fenix work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
A defender's afternoon for Juan Bosca
Defensive actions: 19. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad5 Mar 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexander Rosso, and the manager let it.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
Shots: 13, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.