52 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Chaco For Ever lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 The request is on a desk at Chaco For Ever, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Villa San Carlos have kept their man, and Chaco For Ever go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nahuel Fontes and Chaco For Ever agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Lucas Sauer 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.
0‑3 to Real Pilar, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Gimnasia y Esgrima waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Chaco For Ever is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Lucas Sosa after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chaco For Ever is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chaco For Ever 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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Lucas Sauer 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.
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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chaco For Ever, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Chaco For Ever know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Minute 92, against Deportivo Merlo, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Sergio Alonso 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Rodrigo Cardozo will call it something else in private.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Chaco For Ever, another week without a signature from Brian Nievas.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chaco For Ever this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Lucas Sauer 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.
Nobody at Chaco For Ever 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.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Chaco For Ever will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alejandro Aquino provided it, and the 8.32 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Andres Lioi 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. 6 goals between Chaco For Ever and Villa Dálmine, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
“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.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑4 Lucas Sosa left the room before anybody could ask which.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Sauer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chaco For Ever is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chaco For Ever 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Sauer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A mark of 7.23, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout25 Sep 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.” Lucas Sosa, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chaco For Ever lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Chaco For Ever, and it is not being withdrawn.
David Valdez 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Victor Martins and Chaco For Ever agree another 3 years.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Lucas Sosa to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
SquadLucas Sauer falls out with a teammate over standards
40 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Chaco For Ever lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chaco For Ever they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chaco For Ever 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.
47 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Chaco For Ever lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Chaco For Ever, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.11, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words at Chaco For Ever training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergio Alonso 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 words a physio says slowly. 55 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.
“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 Chaco For Ever, and it is not being withdrawn.
Gastón Canuto 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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The dugout14 Aug 2028
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.” Lucas Sosa kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
David Valdez damages knee ligaments — 125 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 125 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.
The deal with Banfield 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.
Deportivo Laferrere left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Chaco For Ever training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Jara 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 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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Bruno Borda
Andres Lioi 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.
Squad15 May 2028
Joaquín Jara 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.
“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 dugout15 May 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.” Lucas Sosa chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
Agustín Ojeda 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 Sergio Alonso was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Lucas Sosa was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Chaco For Ever dressing room was either.
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 Brian Nievas is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Chaco For Ever know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Chaco For Ever 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 Chaco For Ever 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. Lucas Sauer 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.
Joaquín Jara 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.
“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 Chaco For Ever, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
A new deal for the man in the dugout, and the clearest thing a board can say without calling a press conference about it. Stability is cheap to promise and expensive to deliver.
David Valdez 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.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Brujo is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Joaquín Di María 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Julián Muñoz 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chaco For Ever will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.85, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
David Valdez 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 Jun 2027
Words at Chaco For Ever training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Cruz Cerrudo 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 94. Deportivo Merlo had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
It needed Tomás Bolzicco to find the net to bring anything home at all: 3‑3 against Deportivo Merlo, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.