Marked for Thiago Amaral
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Aug 2027
82 days out for Luciano Cariaga after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Basanez will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market9 Aug 2027
Kevin Gadea hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Basanez can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 27. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Gino Sandiano 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Basanez training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Umpiérrez 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.
Boardroom9 Aug 2027
Wages swallow 219% of the Basanez income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
Match7 Aug 2027
0‑2 to Renegades, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market9 Aug 2027
Thiago Amaral is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Basanez has been clear about where Thiago Amaral stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
Pablo Lemos 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Jun 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 The request is on a desk at Basanez, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Basanez
Rodrigo Cabrera and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Everybody at Basanez saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Match12 Jun 2027
Still nobody has beaten Basanez
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Basanez training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Gutiérrez 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.
Boardroom14 Jun 2027
269% of the income goes out in wages at Basanez
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 dugout14 Jun 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.
Match12 Jun 2027
A point taken on 88 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to Central Espanol: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Jun 2027
Jorge Gaitán hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Basanez can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Basanez have done the hard part with Central Espanol, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Basanez
Rodrigo Cabrera 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Basanez
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Umpiérrez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces7 Jun 2027
At 22 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.
Market7 Jun 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Agustín Gutiérrez has his answer from Basanez; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Agustín Gutiérrez, and the manager let it.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Mar 2027
Beaten 0‑3 by Los Halcones, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad15 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Basanez
Gino Sandiano and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Facundo Umpiérrez 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Ayrton Costa
“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.
Boardroom15 Mar 2027
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Market15 Mar 2027
“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.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Nahuel Garcia to a room that had heard them before.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Basanez are still strangers to each other
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout15 Mar 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets28 Dec 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Basanez have done the hard part with Defensor Sporting, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad28 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Basanez this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets28 Dec 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. La Luz have kept their man, and Basanez go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Basanez training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Gutiérrez 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.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages swallow 222% of the Basanez income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Kevin Lado
“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 dugout28 Dec 2026
Thiago Amaral 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 Basanez, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“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 Basanez will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Market28 Dec 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Basanez know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Basanez
Julián Perujo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Gonzalo Magliano 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 254% of the Basanez income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Damián Ramírez back under a manager who knows him
The new man at Basanez has worked with Damián Ramírez before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Match28 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“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 dugout30 Nov 2026
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 Nahuel Garcia to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Juan Pablo Muñoz asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
Julián Perujo 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Basanez training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Albín 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
Damián Ramírez back under a manager who knows him
The new man at Basanez has worked with Damián Ramírez before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gonzalo Guichón, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
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 dugout16 Nov 2026
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Thiago Amaral’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Basanez needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market16 Nov 2026
The name of Gino Sandiano keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Basanez say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad16 Nov 2026
The training reports on Juan Pablo Muñoz are not good
A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match24 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Basanez
4 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Basanez
Julián Perujo 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Basanez
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Agustín Gutiérrez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
At 22 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Damián Ramírez back under a manager who knows him
The new man at Basanez has worked with Damián Ramírez before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Marked 7.89. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Basanez this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 33, 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
The goals have deserted Basanez
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Basanez can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Gonzalo Magliano 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
Damián Ramírez back under a manager who knows him
The new man at Basanez has worked with Damián Ramírez before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ayrton Costa, and the manager let it.
Market19 Oct 2026
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Basanez were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
Squad19 Oct 2026
25 new faces, and Basanez 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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.33 on the card, and the Basanez support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Oct 2026
Chastening afternoon for Basanez
A 0‑4 beating by Paysandu FC was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Álvaro Brun 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 Basanez this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Time is catching up with Nahuel Arias
Everybody at Basanez saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Basanez
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Agustín Gutiérrez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
282% of the income goes out in wages at Basanez
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 dugout5 Oct 2026
Damián Ramírez back under a manager who knows him
The new man at Basanez has worked with Damián Ramírez before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Agustín Gutiérrez, and the manager let it.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Kevin Lado beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Nobody left the Basanez dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Basanez
Julián Perujo 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
Damián Ramírez back under a manager who knows him
The new man at Basanez has worked with Damián Ramírez before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Bruno Barbato has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Basanez 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Nahuel Garcia was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Basanez dressing room was either.
Looking ahead28 Sep 2026
Basanez take on the side everybody is chasing
Paysandu FC arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
Match26 Sep 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Salto defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Market28 Sep 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Bruno Barbato’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Age has not caught Nahuel Arias yet — 8.31
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.31 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Basanez
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Lado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match19 Sep 2026
Basanez get the job done against Salus
A 2‑1 win over Salus, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Damián Ramírez back under a manager who knows him
The new man at Basanez has worked with Damián Ramírez before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Basanez
23 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Nahuel Garcia, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match12 Sep 2026
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.67, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.87, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Basanez training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Lado 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 8.20 — 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.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Basanez know which stage they are at.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Nahuel Garcia on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Thiago Amaral 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.