Marked for Joaquín Laport
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 35. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Market10 Apr 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Rentistas, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
Joaquín Laport: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rentistas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market10 Apr 2028
Iván Cartés has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rentistas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words exchanged at Rentistas
Facundo Rodríguez 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.
Match8 Apr 2028
Rocha made Rentistas work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Rentistas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Torres 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.
Market10 Apr 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Simón Bentancur has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Rentistas.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
“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.
In brief
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Player ratings
Pablo Suárez stands above it all
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
When it matters, Pablo Suárez plays
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rentistas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
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 dugout31 Jan 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rentistas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Jan 2028
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rentistas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Facundo Rodríguez 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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
The medical room confirms 45 days on the sidelines for Cristian Guzmán, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad10 Jan 2028
70 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
Mateo Torres gets it from the manager
“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.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
Pablo Suárez 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 Pablo Suárez is on it.
Market10 Jan 2028
Nobody sells a season ticket on a signing like this. Every manager who has been through a bad October wants one anyway, and Rentistas have gone and got theirs early.
Market10 Jan 2028
“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.
Market10 Jan 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Lautaro Dufur’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market22 Nov 2027
Jean Martínez has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rentistas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Facundo Rodríguez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Loan watch22 Nov 2027
“I watch every Rentistas game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Bella Italia runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad22 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Rentistas
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mateo Torres was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
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 Inverso is on it.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mateo Torres, and the manager let it.
Market22 Nov 2027
The name of Lautaro Dufur keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Rentistas say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rentistas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market22 Nov 2027
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Rentistas money.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Oct 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 Rentistas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Oct 2027
The medical room confirms 75 days on the sidelines for Carlos Núñez, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Ariel Bica 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 dugout18 Oct 2027
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 Juan Pablo Plada is on it.
Market18 Oct 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Joaquín Laport has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Rentistas.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
Lautaro Dufur 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 Lautaro Dufur trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market18 Oct 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rentistas know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Match18 Oct 2027
Rentistas have something to play for
Position 4 on 40 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Loan watch18 Oct 2027
16 appearances away from home and 5 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Jul 2027
Ramiro Méndez damages knee ligaments — 23 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Rentistas may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market19 Jul 2027
Rentistas say no — this time
The offer from Vila Nova for Agustín Rodríguez was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Everything agreed with Penarol, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Ariel Chaves in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rentistas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match17 Jul 2027
Late, late show earns Rentistas a point
Minute 86, against Rocha, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
A loan enquiry to Albion: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout19 Jul 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.
Match17 Jul 2027
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Rentistas may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Age has not caught Ariel Chaves yet — 7.87
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.87 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
A defender's goal wins it for Rentistas — 7.94
1 for Nicolás Pintado, marked 7.94, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Facundo Rodríguez 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 dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Mateo Torres
“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.
Match17 Apr 2027
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Eduardo Barrios was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Rentistas dressing room was either.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match3 Apr 2027
The wait goes on for Rentistas
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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ariel Chaves and Rentistas agree another 2 years.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Facundo Rodríguez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Gonzalo Barreto
“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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Too much change too quickly at Rentistas
13 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Match3 Apr 2027
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Simón Bentancur dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Squad5 Apr 2027
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Joaquín Laport has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.