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.
Match22 Mar 2036
Another one collected away from home
5 on the bounce on the road for Nueva Chicago. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Lautaro Bilbao 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad24 Mar 2036
Words at Nueva Chicago training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Abreu 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 16-year-old it feels ownership of. Gustavo Suárez 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ignacio Della Vedova. 2‑0 against San Martín, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Madryn 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.
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.
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.
Squad25 Feb 2036
Mateo Abreu 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.
At 15 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.
Marked 8.13 — 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.
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 Lucas Elordi is on it.
The hardest thing about being 16 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Gustavo Suárez did not need any: 8.21, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lautaro Bilbao was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Feb 2036
Mateo Abreu is still being punished for one mistake
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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Interim Coach could afford to be generous.
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.
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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 0 on the scoresheet, 7.31 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
Squad11 Feb 2036
Words at Nueva Chicago training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Abreu 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ignacio Della Vedova. 2‑1 against All Boys, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 16 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.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. All Boys tried to reorganise, Nueva Chicago did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
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 Matías Bergara is on it.
It is arithmetic now, and the arithmetic is done. A summer of hard questions starts early at Nueva Chicago, and next season's fixture list reads very differently.
86 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Nueva Chicago lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Nueva Chicago can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
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.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Flandria have accepted the money. What Nueva Chicago do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Nueva Chicago have done the hard part with Huracán, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The offer went to Talleres this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
93 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Nueva Chicago lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 22 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
$300.0K on the table at Tigre. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
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.
Nueva Chicago offered $430.0K; Belgrano 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.
Nueva Chicago have gone to Tigre 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.
The offer went to Estudiantes this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad31 Dec 2035
Words at Nueva Chicago training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Abreu 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“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.
Thiago Sanchez 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.
Squad19 Nov 2035
Words at Nueva Chicago training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Abreu 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Bastián Muñoz has his answer from Nueva Chicago; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bastián Muñoz trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Boardroom22 Oct 2035
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Nueva Chicago
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
9 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Central Córdoba SdE were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
“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.
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.
Squad22 Oct 2035
Mateo Abreu 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Thiago Sanchez. 1‑0 against Central Córdoba SdE, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
8 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.
“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.
Thiago Sanchez 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mateo Abreu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
A brace, and Gaspar Notta takes the afternoon — 8.29
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gaspar Notta provided it, and the 8.29 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mateo Abreu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Gaspar Notta 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
5 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 18 combined actions and a mark of 6.99, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lautaro Bilbao was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 17 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.
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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Words at Nueva Chicago training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Abreu 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.
Gaspar Notta 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 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.
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 Lucas Elordi is on it.
Nobody at Nueva Chicago is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rodrigo Russo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Nueva Chicago the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Rodrigo Russo 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.
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.
Squad13 Aug 2035
Words at Nueva Chicago training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lautaro Bilbao 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.
Nueva Chicago have gone to Argentinos Juniors 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.
Squad16 Jul 2035
Mateo Abreu 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.
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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Thiago Sanchez signs something — a contract at Nueva Chicago or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rodrigo Russo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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.
The deal with Defensa y Justicia 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.
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.
Atlético Tucumán wanted more than $2.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mateo Abreu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Position 15 and 4 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The clubs have shaken hands with Defensa y Justicia; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“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 have gone to Sarmiento 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.
Nueva Chicago asked and San Lorenzo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
This is not rotation. Gabriel Godoy has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Nueva Chicago is pretending otherwise.
Squad11 Jun 2035
Words at Nueva Chicago training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lautaro Bilbao 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.
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 bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Two goals and a mark of 8.10 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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.
Thiago Sanchez 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.
Squad7 May 2035
Mateo Abreu 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.
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 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.
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout30 Apr 2035
Lucas Lucero is still being punished for one mistake
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.
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.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.98, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
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.
Marked 8.04 — 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.
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.
The dugout9 Apr 2035
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
Squad2 Apr 2035
Mateo Abreu 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.
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.
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.
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Gabriel Godoy has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Nueva Chicago.
The dugout2 Apr 2035
Jorge Navarro is still being punished for one mistake
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.
32 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad26 Mar 2035
Mateo Abreu 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.
Gaspar Notta 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Nueva Chicago has been clear about where Bastián Muñoz stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
1 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.85 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
Player ratings19 Mar 2035
Agustín Ferrari, 17, plays like he has been here for years — 8.05
A mark of 8.05 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 17-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.02 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Beaten 9 times, 5 saves, and an afternoon that will go on his record whether it was his fault or the defence’s. It is the quiet unfairness of the position.
Thiago Sanchez 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.
Match17 Mar 2035
Nobody could stop scoring
9 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Nueva Chicago and Boca Juniors in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
At 18 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.
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mateo Abreu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
The dugout12 Mar 2035
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad5 Mar 2035
Mateo Abreu 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.
Gaspar Notta 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
13 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere 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.
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.
Squad12 Feb 2035
Words at Nueva Chicago training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Abreu 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 easiest signature of my career.” Jorge Navarro and Nueva Chicago agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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 Luciano Jachfe is on it.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mateo Abreu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Chori and Nueva Chicago agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout29 Jan 2035
The manager has not finished forgetting Jorge Navarro's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Thiago Sanchez signs something — a contract at Nueva Chicago or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutLucas Ponce asks for a word with the manager
Mathematically certain, and nobody in this town is going to bed early. Whatever else happened this season, it finishes a division above where it started.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Nueva Chicago have had the benefit of it.
Nueva Chicago have gone to Defensa y Justicia 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Racing Club have kept their man, and Nueva Chicago go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nueva Chicago offered $2.0K; Atlético Tucumán 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.
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.
Nueva Chicago ran out of time with Boca Juniors. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
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.
In brief
SquadWords at Nueva Chicago training over how hard people work
60 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Nueva Chicago had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Newell's Old Boys, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Thiago Sanchez 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 offer went to Rosario Central this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad11 Dec 2034
Mateo Abreu 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.
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 Luciano Jachfe is on 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.
In brief
The dugoutLucas Ponce knocks on the manager's door
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.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lautaro Bilbao was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Newell's Old Boys have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
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.
The dugout4 Dec 2034
The manager has not finished forgetting Jorge Navarro's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
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.
“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.
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.
Squad6 Nov 2034
Mateo Abreu 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.
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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
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.
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.
Squad23 Oct 2034
Words at Nueva Chicago training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lautaro Bilbao 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Nueva Chicago, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
“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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Thiago Sanchez commits to Nueva Chicago for another 4 years.
Squad9 Oct 2034
Mateo Abreu 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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutJorge Navarro is still being punished for one mistake
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 easiest signature of my career.” Thiago Sanchez and Nueva Chicago agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Mateo Abreu 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.
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.
Squad2 Oct 2034
Words at Nueva Chicago training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Ponce 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 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.
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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Jorge Navarro's mistake
The dugoutSantiago Diez asks for a word with the manager
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Gaspar Notta commits to Nueva Chicago for another 4 years.
Squad4 Sep 2034
Mateo Abreu 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 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.
“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.
Squad14 Aug 2034
Mateo Abreu 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 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.
The dugout14 Aug 2034
The manager has not finished forgetting Jorge Navarro's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Héctor Zabala trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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.
Thiago Sanchez 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.
Nueva Chicago have gone to River Plate 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Central Córdoba SdE have kept their man, and Nueva Chicago go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Nueva Chicago have made the call to Newell's Old Boys. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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.
16 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.
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 5‑0 against Madryn, and it could have been more.
Match8 Jul 2034
Another one collected away from home
10 on the bounce on the road for Nueva Chicago. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Deportivo Laferrere waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Nueva Chicago is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Two goals and a mark of 8.25 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 shaken hands with San Lorenzo; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“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.
13 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.
Match17 Jun 2034
Another one collected away from home
9 on the bounce on the road for Nueva Chicago. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Nueva Chicago have done the hard part with Racing Club, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.
Nueva Chicago asked and Acassuso said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Marked 8.32 — 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.
11 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.
Match3 Jun 2034
Another one collected away from home
8 on the bounce on the road for Nueva Chicago. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Everything agreed with Brown de Adrogué, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mateo Abreu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nahuel Martín. 2‑0 against Maipú, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“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.
Thiago Sanchez 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.
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 Luciano Jachfe is on it.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Santiago Diez, and the manager let it.
The dugout29 May 2034
The manager has not finished forgetting Jorge Navarro's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Squad29 May 2034
The division's best last weekend was a Nueva Chicago man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Thiago Sanchez was the best thing in any of them.
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.
10 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.37 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
9 goals in one match, Thiago Sanchez on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Nueva Chicago and Arsenal.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsGaspar Notta was on a different afternoon to everybody else