Marked for Mikail Ergin
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings8 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
Market8 May 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings8 May 2028
Marked 7.70 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market8 May 2028
Obaid Ahmed has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Maipú they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad8 May 2028
Tempers go at Maipú
Juan Pablo De la Reta 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.
Squad8 May 2028
Nicolás Fernández 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.
Match6 May 2028
A 2‑1 win over Estudiantes, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces8 May 2028
He is 21 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.
The dugout8 May 2028
“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.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Market
Mikail Ergin is free to find somewhere else
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The dugout
Víctor Barrera has become a man the manager trusts
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Apr 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Maipú, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
Federico Viera: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Maipú have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match15 Apr 2028
The wait goes on for Maipú
4 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maipú this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom17 Apr 2028
Belts tighten at Maipú
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad17 Apr 2028
A row about effort at Maipú
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julián Vera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
Nicolás Heiz beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match15 Apr 2028
A bad afternoon for Maipú against Madryn
1‑2 to Madryn, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad17 Apr 2028
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Maipú know it.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Squad
Víctor Barrera is the weekend's best young player
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The dugout
Sergio Sosa has become a man the manager trusts
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Feb 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maipú this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Feb 2028
A row about effort at Maipú
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julián Vera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match19 Feb 2028
Gimnasia y Tiro left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Santiago Roggero, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Feb 2028
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Maipú know it.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Juan Méndez after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Maipú are still strangers to each other
5 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.
Boardroom21 Feb 2028
Maipú counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Maipú now.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Feb 2028
Obaid Ahmed has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Maipú they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom14 Feb 2028
Obaid Ahmed has agreed to leave Maipú for nothing
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad14 Feb 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nicolás Fernández and Maipú agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words exchanged at Maipú
Nicolás Heiz 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Maipú training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julián Vera 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 dugout14 Feb 2028
“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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Nicolás Heiz beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Juan Méndez was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Maipú dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market31 Jan 2028
Marko come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Maipú did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market31 Jan 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad31 Jan 2028
A falling-out at Maipú
Juan Pablo De la Reta and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Maipú
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julián Vera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
The manager makes an example of Luciano Ortega
“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 dugout31 Jan 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Juan Pablo De la Reta trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market13 Dec 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market13 Dec 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Mariano Moyano had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market13 Dec 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets13 Dec 2027
Everything agreed with Newell's Old Boys, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad13 Dec 2027
A falling-out at Maipú
Aron Agüero and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market13 Dec 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Maipú have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Julián Vera 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.
Transfer targets13 Dec 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Villa San Carlos have kept their man, and Maipú go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad13 Dec 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Maipú can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Juan Ponce
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The dugout
Aron Agüero asks for a word with the manager
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Match
Maipú have something to play for
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market18 Oct 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Maipú can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 27. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Maipú
Aron Agüero and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Maipú
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Pablo De la Reta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match16 Oct 2027
All Boys left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Loan watch18 Oct 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Maipú, and 5 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout18 Oct 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Maipú are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market16 Aug 2027
Maipú say no — this time
The offer from Spartak Pleven for Joaquín Bassani 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
A season average of 7.26 with 18 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match14 Aug 2027
Maipú make home a hard place to visit
10 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at Maipú
Aron Agüero 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Maipú training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Pablo De la Reta 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 dugout16 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicolás Heiz, and the manager let it.
Market16 Aug 2027
Mikail Ergin is 19, and Maipú 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mikail Ergin commits to Maipú for another 3 years.
Match14 Aug 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Player ratings
Marcelo Eggel runs at them all day
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Player ratings
Nicolás Heiz could have had three