10 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.
The deal with Central Espanol 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.
Leonel 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.
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.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
In brief
The dugoutJunior Palacios is still being punished for one mistake
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Salus can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mauricio Felipe 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.
Marked 7.92. 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 dugout31 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Junior Palacios'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.
“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.
Giovanny Salem wins it after the whistle should have gone
92 minutes played. Giovanny Salem found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Platense went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mauricio Felipe 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. Giovanny Salem 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.
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Salus lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
A brace, and Lucas Cajes takes the afternoon — 9.18
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lucas Cajes provided it, and the 9.18 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Giovanny Salem did not need any: 8.29, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Salus have done the hard part with Rentistas, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Diego Ríos 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.
84 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Salus lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Giovanni de Armas has, at Salus, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Giovanni de Armas commits to Salus for another 4 years.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Mateo Álvarez
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
107 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Salus lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Mateo Álvarez 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.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.30, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Agustín da Luz was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.04. 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.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Leonardo Valverde kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.