Marked for Anyelo Cotache
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Apr 2029
7 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.
Match28 Apr 2029
The wait goes on for Pastoreo
6 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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
A falling-out at Pastoreo
Alan Vargas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings30 Apr 2029
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words at Pastoreo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastián Da Silva 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.
Match28 Apr 2029
Guairena left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad30 Apr 2029
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 34 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pastoreo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match21 Apr 2029
No end in sight to Pastoreo's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Pastoreo has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Pastoreo may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words exchanged at Pastoreo
Sebastián Da Silva 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.
Squad23 Apr 2029
A row about effort at Pastoreo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Bogado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Martín Torres lets one through his hands
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Match21 Apr 2029
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
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.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
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.
Player ratings23 Apr 2029
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Apr 2029
A falling-out at Pastoreo
Alan Vargas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Words at Pastoreo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastián Da Silva 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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
A place in the month's best eleven for Anyelo Cotache
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Anyelo Cotache has come out of that comparison in the side, and Pastoreo have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
“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 dugout2 Apr 2029
Alan Vargas knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pastoreo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Pastoreo told Alexis Prieto something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Looking ahead2 Apr 2029
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Alan Vargas’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Pastoreo needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market2 Apr 2029
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Martín Torres has moved up it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Mar 2029
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.48, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Alan Vargas 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.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at Pastoreo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastián Da Silva 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 terraces19 Mar 2029
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Anyelo Cotache 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.
Match17 Mar 2029
A point taken on 92 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
The manager makes an example of Anyelo Cotache
“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.
Match17 Mar 2029
It needed Anyelo Cotache to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Independiente CG, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Mar 2029
Chastening afternoon for Pastoreo
A 0‑4 beating by Sportivo Carapegua was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
The dugout5 Mar 2029
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pastoreo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market5 Mar 2029
“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 Pastoreo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Mar 2029
A falling-out at Pastoreo
Sebastián Da Silva and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout5 Mar 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to César Núñez, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Mar 2029
A row about effort at Pastoreo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Bogado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout5 Mar 2029
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 0‑4 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
Squad5 Mar 2029
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Adrián Mereles has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom26 Feb 2029
Pastoreo interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Interim Coach keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
Market26 Feb 2029
Alexis Prieto hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pastoreo can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Pastoreo may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words exchanged at Pastoreo
Alan Vargas 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.
Match24 Feb 2029
1‑3 to Sol de America, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad26 Feb 2029
A row about effort at Pastoreo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Bogado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Pastoreo are still strangers to each other
7 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.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
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 1‑3 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad26 Feb 2029
The one goal every signing is asked about until it comes. It has come, and a press-conference question has been retired.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Pastoreo
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Fernando Balbuena has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
Crisis meeting at Pastoreo
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Squad8 Jan 2029
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 17 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2029
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Pastoreo have done the hard part with Fernando de la Mora, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad8 Jan 2029
A falling-out at Pastoreo
Alan Vargas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad8 Jan 2029
César Núñez 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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
No place for Anyelo Cotache in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Pastoreo are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.