7 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Colonia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Deportivo Colonia can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $10.9M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Samuel Machado after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Lusiel Gómez has his answer from Deportivo Colonia; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
7.58, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Deportivo Colonia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Francisco Décima 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.
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.
“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 dugout23 Apr 2029
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.” Samuel Machado chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Fabio Vázquez and Deportivo Colonia agree another 2 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Colonia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Walker Shabazz-Edwards is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Diego Pérez’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Deportivo Colonia needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Francisco Décima and Deportivo Colonia agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Colonia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Deportivo Colonia will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Deportivo Colonia can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $10.5M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Deportivo Colonia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
1 for Francisco Abella, marked 7.40, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Thiago Amaral has agreed terms with Deportivo Maldonado for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
9 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Deportivo Colonia asked and Nacional said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Bruno Carracedo 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.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Deportivo Colonia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Francisco Décima 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.
Nobody at Deportivo Colonia 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.