Marked for Javier Perochena
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Jul 2028
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Market3 Jul 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad3 Jul 2028
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
The dugout3 Jul 2028
This is not rotation. Joaquín Sánchez has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Canadian is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
The deal with Rentistas 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.
Squad3 Jul 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Federico Pardiñas and Canadian agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words exchanged at Canadian
Jeremías Vargas 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.
Player ratings3 Jul 2028
Yisak Gómez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.93. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 May 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 The request is on a desk at Canadian, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match29 May 2028
Canadian refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 34 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.
The dugout29 May 2028
This is not rotation. Juan Cruz Careaga has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Canadian is pretending otherwise.
Squad29 May 2028
Jeremías Vargas 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.
Squad29 May 2028
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Canadian training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Tissera 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.
Match27 May 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mathías León. 2‑1 against Bella Italia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces29 May 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Valentino Würth 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.
Match27 May 2028
The drought breaks for Canadian
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Bella Italia were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad27 Mar 2028
A fracture rules Ernesto Ocampo out for 37 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Canadian will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market27 Mar 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
This is not rotation. Federico Pardiñas has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Canadian is pretending otherwise.
Squad27 Mar 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 Canadian this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom27 Mar 2028
Canadian cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Boardroom27 Mar 2028
Canadian are $8.0M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
Mathías León 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 Mathías León is on it.
Looking ahead27 Mar 2028
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Potencia in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
Enzo Maidana knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Canadian, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Feb 2028
Andrés Domínguez damages knee ligaments — 41 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 41 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
A fracture rules Ernesto Ocampo out for 65 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Canadian will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market28 Feb 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
This is not rotation. Federico Pardiñas has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Canadian is pretending otherwise.
Squad28 Feb 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 Canadian this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Feb 2028
At 39, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
The manager makes an example of Diego Tissera
“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.
Match26 Feb 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom28 Feb 2028
Canadian cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Eduardo Pucheta
113 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Canadian lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad12 Jul 2027
A falling-out at Canadian
Joaquín Sánchez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Canadian
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Tissera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. La Luz have kept their man, and Canadian go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match10 Jul 2027
A 2‑1 win over Sud America, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Boardroom12 Jul 2027
252% of the income goes out in wages at Canadian
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The terraces12 Jul 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Javier Perochena 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.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Yisak Gómez
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market1 Feb 2027
“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 Canadian, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Pressure builds in the Canadian boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Agustin Godoy breaks a bone — 37 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Canadian
David Drocco 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.
The dugout1 Feb 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Canadian will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Canadian counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Canadian now.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
The manager's exit leaves David Drocco exposed
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. David Drocco is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Joaquín Sánchez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
The knee: David Drocco out for 31 days
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Canadian lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.15 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match28 Nov 2026
The drought breaks for Canadian
11 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Salus were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Market30 Nov 2026
The shirt still fits. Javier Perochena is back at Canadian, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad30 Nov 2026
David Drocco 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
203% of the income goes out in wages at Canadian
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The terraces30 Nov 2026
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.
Match28 Nov 2026
A 2‑0 win over Salus, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.