1‑3 against Liverpool Montevideo, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
50 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.
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.
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.
18 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.
5 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.
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.
5‑0, and Mathías León took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Canadian tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings19 Jun 2028
A brace, and Mathías León takes the afternoon — 8.79
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mathías León provided it, and the 8.79 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody 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 The request is on a desk at Canadian, and it is not being withdrawn.
4 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.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.99 for the rest of it.
Román Ugarriza 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.
17 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Canadian have done the hard part with Miramar Misiones, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Román Ugarriza 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.
Canadian asked and Plaza Colonia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
38 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Player ratings5 Jun 2028
A brace, and Bruno Gómez takes the afternoon — 8.87
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Bruno Gómez provided it, and the 8.87 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody 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 Canadian, and it is not being withdrawn.
Julián Irazoque 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.
16 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Marked 9.74 — 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 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.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsBruno Gómez beats them one at a time
15 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.
Román Ugarriza 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 Franco Costantino is on it.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Martin Silva after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Canadian is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The first defeat in 6 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Central Espanol; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.71 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
30 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.
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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.
A brace, and Mathías León takes the afternoon — 9.41
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mathías León provided it, and the 9.41 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
4 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 Canadian this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 3‑1 win over Deportivo Maldonado, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Martin Silva could afford to be generous.
Nobody at Canadian 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Germán Cabrera is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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.
Román Ugarriza 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.
“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 dugout24 Apr 2028
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.” Martin Silva, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Canadian has been clear about where Bruno Fassetta Argüello 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.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Agustín Campi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Canadian the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Bruno Gómez 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.
Marked 8.52 — 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 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.
11 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.
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.
Nobody at Canadian 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.
Shots: 17, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
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.” Martin Silva chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; 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 Canadian this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Bella Vista in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Canadian know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
3 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.
Cristian Silva 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rodrigo Ramírez provided it, and the 8.82 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Agustín Campi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Canadian the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Cristian Silva 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.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.70 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Canadian have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Diego Bolaños has, at Canadian, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Kevin Rodriguez has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Canadian they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Román Ugarriza 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Nobody at Canadian 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Canadian will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Agustín Campi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Canadian the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Canadian training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junior Palacios 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.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Canadian will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer from Oriental for Mathías León 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.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Canadian had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Canadian have done the hard part with Cerro, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Canadian this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Canadian asked and Racing said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Agustín Barrios is in the works
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 70 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
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 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Lucas Tabó is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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 new man at Canadian has worked with Sebastián Bonilla before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
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.
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 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Canadian training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junior Palacios 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.
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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Cristian Silva is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Nobody at Canadian will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It 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.
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 new man at Canadian has worked with Sebastián Bonilla before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
In brief
The dugoutMathías León has become a man the manager trusts
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Canadian have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Bruno Fassetta Argüello provided it, and the 8.34 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Canadian can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Cerro 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.
Rodrigo Ramírez 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 Junior Palacios was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
23 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.
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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Marked 8.23 — 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 words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
Cristian Silva 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 Junior Palacios was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Bruno Gómez 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.
44 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.91 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Junior Palacios 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.
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.
Half the programme played, position 2, 20 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Canadian training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junior Palacios 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 Canadian 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Canadian will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Two goals and a mark of 9.40 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
6 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.
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.
Junior Palacios 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match17 Mar 2027
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Canadian. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Canadian will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Two goals and a mark of 9.17 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
5 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.
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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Canadian and Platense in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Marked 9.04 — 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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Yisak Gómez
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.
4 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ezequiel Martínez and Canadian agree another 4 years.
Rodrigo Ramírez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Bruno Gómez. 1‑0 against Salus, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Canadian will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Mar de Fondo will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Canadian were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
A brace, and Mathías León takes the afternoon — 8.86
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mathías León provided it, and the 8.86 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Junior Palacios 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 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Canadian will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Junior Palacios 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Canadian and Rampla Juniors, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Marked 9.15 — 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 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.
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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Canadian have done the hard part with Progreso, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: River Plate keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Rodrigo Ramírez 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Canadian training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mathías León 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.
7 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.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Thiago Rodríguez is in the works
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.
Cristian Silva 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 Mathías León was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Canadian know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
It is the least glamorous business a club does and the reason seasons do not collapse in February. Franco Costantino is here for the weeks when three men are injured and somebody still has to play.
Mathías León arrived with a record at a bigger club than this one, and the room has treated him accordingly. The young ones watch him train; the senior ones watch to see whether it lasts.