Diego Romero 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Agustin Martinez left the room before anybody could ask which.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín de Armas 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Albion in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Agustín Olavarría 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.
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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colon they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Colon have done the hard part with Liverpool Montevideo, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leandro Méndez 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. River Plate have kept their man, and Colon go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I watch every Colon game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Platense runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Colon, and both men came out saying it was fine.
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Colon lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Ignacio Milans 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leandro Méndez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Colon 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.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Colon lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
7 new faces, and Colon 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Colon has been clear about where Lisandro González stands, which is more than many ever get.
Nobody at Colon 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Colon, and both men came out saying it was fine.
120 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Colon lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
A brace, and Bruno Airaldi takes the afternoon — 8.69
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Bruno Airaldi provided it, and the 8.69 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Colon people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Everything agreed with Liverpool Montevideo, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Add another name to the list: Alto Peru have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Facundo Barreto. The answer from Colon has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Agustín Chopitea was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Chopitea 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Colon, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Two goals and a mark of 8.80 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Two goals and a mark of 8.62 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
A mark of 7.73 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leandro Méndez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Ignacio Charrutti 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Agustín Chopitea was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Colon, and 2 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Leandro Méndez 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomás Lerman 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 watch every Colon game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Canadian runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
In brief
The dugoutFacundo Barreto has become a man the manager trusts
Everything agreed with Miramar Misiones, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Leandro Méndez 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Chopitea 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Colon lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Cooper are out and Colon go through, 4‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A brace, and Jonathan Ríos takes the afternoon — 8.17
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jonathan Ríos provided it, and the 8.17 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 21 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 Agustín Chopitea was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
9 combined actions and 6.81. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.