Marked for Ignacio Ovando
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Two goals and a mark of 9.14 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market8 Feb 2027
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“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.
Match6 Feb 2027
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Rosario Central have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rosario Central this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
2 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Alan Rodríguez 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 terraces8 Feb 2027
The crowd has taken to Alejo Veliz
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Nov 2026
Franco Ibarra 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alan Rodríguez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Alan Rodríguez 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 Alan Rodríguez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
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 Jeremías Ledesma is on it.
Market30 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Franco Ibarra’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Rosario Central will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Loan watch30 Nov 2026
6 appearances at Cobresal and the goals keep coming. Rosario Central are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Loan watch30 Nov 2026
8 starts now, an average of 6.69, and the team sheet at SKA Khabarovsk has stopped being a question. Exactly what everybody signed up for.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Franco Ibarra has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alan Rodríguez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Carlos Quintana and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Something was said to Franco Ibarra and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Julián Fernández, and the manager let it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
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 Jeremías Ledesma is on it.
Market2 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Franco Ibarra’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Rosario Central will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
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.