“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 The request is on a desk at Potencia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Mauro Villar 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alejo Sánchez Roa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Potencia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Bella Vista? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Potencia 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 Potencia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Potencia will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alejo Sánchez Roa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Potencia 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Canadian in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Germán Cabrera did not need any: 7.77, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Nahuel Mela 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.
A point taken on 93 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.
Mauro Villar 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Potencia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Adrián Acevedo signs something — a contract at Potencia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Mauro Villar 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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Axel Pineda trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Potencia 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 Potencia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Wagner was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Agustín Casco trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Potencia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Potencia can tell you which week it ends in.
Facundo Romero 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.
11 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 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.
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.
Martín Moas 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 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.
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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Potencia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alejo Sánchez Roa 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Germán Cabrera's mistake
Nahuel Mela 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.
Everybody at Potencia saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 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.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Potencia know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Potencia has been clear about where Axel Leal stands, which is more than many ever get.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Potencia know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Lautaro Machado is 20, and Potencia have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Esequiel Guedes trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Germán Cabrera'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.