Marked for Facundo Martín
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 May 2027
Tempers go at Salto
Alexis Coman 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 dugout17 May 2027
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 Darío Rodríguez is on it.
The dugout17 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Felipe Giménez, and the manager let it.
Squad17 May 2027
The division's best last weekend was a Salto man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Nahuel González was the best thing in any of them.
Market17 May 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Facundo Martín has his answer from Salto; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout17 May 2027
Tobías Dieni 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.
Market17 May 2027
3 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Salto could get for him.
Squad17 May 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Salto will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Match17 May 2027
Continental football is in reach for Salto
10 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Apr 2027
No end in sight to Salto's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Salto has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad26 Apr 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Salto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match24 Apr 2027
Potencia left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Match26 Apr 2027
Halfway: Salto sit in position 7
7 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Tiago da Silva
“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 dugout26 Apr 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
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 dugout26 Apr 2027
“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
Crisis
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 34. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Salto
Alexis Coman and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match13 Feb 2027
Potencia left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Anthony Vilche, and the manager let it.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“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.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
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.
Boardroom15 Feb 2027
Salto say no to the training-ground money
The plan went upstairs and came back down. Nothing about that will make a headline anywhere else, and everybody who works at the training ground will remember it for years.
Looking ahead15 Feb 2027
Salto take on the side everybody is chasing
Durazno 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.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
4.67. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Salto
Tiago da 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.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Leonardo Varela 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.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Sebastián Fernández has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with Cerrito, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Salto
Alexis Coman 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.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Salto asked and Mar de Fondo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market4 Jan 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Salto, another week without a signature from Sebastián Fernández.
Squad4 Jan 2027
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Salto are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Salto, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Nov 2026
“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 Salto, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad16 Nov 2026
The medical room confirms 16 days on the sidelines for Martín Pucheta, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Salto
Martín Pucheta 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.
Market16 Nov 2026
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Facundo Martín and Salto agree another 3 years.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Salto, and both men came out saying it was fine.