Marked for Mateo Rodríguez
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings9 Jun 2031
Two goals and a mark of 8.96 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market9 Jun 2031
The bid was some way short and Almirante Brown did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad9 Jun 2031
Defences have started doubling up on Tobías Zárate
20 goals and a season average of 7.49 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Market9 Jun 2031
“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 targets9 Jun 2031
Everything agreed with Independiente Rivadavia, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets9 Jun 2031
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Patronato keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad9 Jun 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Almirante Brown this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match7 Jun 2031
A 3‑1 win over Defensores, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings9 Jun 2031
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market2 Jun 2031
“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.
Squad2 Jun 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Talleres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Jun 2031
Matías Abaldo 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.
Boardroom2 Jun 2031
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Transfer targets2 Jun 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Juventus have kept their man, and Talleres go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market2 Jun 2031
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Talleres, another week without a signature from Augusto Schott.
Transfer targets2 Jun 2031
AEK have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout2 Jun 2031
Matías Abaldo has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Talleres 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.
The dugout2 Jun 2031
Augusto Schott knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Augusto Schott trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad6 Jan 2031
A fracture rules Mateo Rodríguez out for 15 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Talleres will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad6 Jan 2031
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Talleres will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Transfer targets6 Jan 2031
The deal with San Lorenzo 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.
Boardroom6 Jan 2031
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Franco Agustoni has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad6 Jan 2031
A falling-out at Talleres
Emanuel Reynoso and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Jan 2031
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Valoyes 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.
Transfer targets6 Jan 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Belgrano have kept their man, and Talleres go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market6 Jan 2031
“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.
The dugout6 Jan 2031
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Dec 2030
A fracture rules Mateo Rodríguez out for 22 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Talleres will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market30 Dec 2030
River Plate did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $5.6M for Agustín Obregón, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Market30 Dec 2030
Edwin Peraza 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 Talleres can pretend not to have heard.
Market30 Dec 2030
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Franco Agustoni will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Talleres the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad30 Dec 2030
Words exchanged at Talleres
Emanuel Reynoso 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 terraces30 Dec 2030
Talleres spend $5.6M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $5.6M for Agustín Obregón, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Transfer targets30 Dec 2030
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.
Squad30 Dec 2030
Agustín Obregón 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.
The dugout30 Dec 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tomás Kummer, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Dec 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets23 Dec 2030
Everything agreed with River Plate, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Market23 Dec 2030
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The dugout23 Dec 2030
Nicolás Rusconi: 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.” Talleres have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market23 Dec 2030
Mateo Arrieta 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 Talleres can pretend not to have heard.
Squad23 Dec 2030
Emanuel Reynoso 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.
Squad23 Dec 2030
Words at Talleres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Abaldo 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.
Squad23 Dec 2030
Emiliano Goñi gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Emiliano Goñi has just signed for Talleres, and for once the answer mattered.
Boardroom23 Dec 2030
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Lautaro Pereyra has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Talleres have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom16 Dec 2030
Instituto book their European place
Done, and with games to spare. Next season has floodlit nights against clubs from other countries in it, and the accounts have a line they did not have last year.
Market16 Dec 2030
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Instituto have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market16 Dec 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Instituto can pretend not to have heard.
Squad16 Dec 2030
Alex Luna honoured for the season
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Instituto had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Boardroom16 Dec 2030
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Mateo Rodríguez has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad16 Dec 2030
Hernán de la Fuente and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets16 Dec 2030
Instituto asked and Atletico 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.
Squad16 Dec 2030
The medical room confirms 57 days on the sidelines for Raúl Ramírez, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad16 Dec 2030
A row about effort at Instituto
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pablo Hofstetter was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom16 Dec 2030
Talleres book their European place
Done, and with games to spare. Next season has floodlit nights against clubs from other countries in it, and the accounts have a line they did not have last year.
Match11 Dec 2030
Talleres do the business in Europe
2‑0. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and Talleres came through the finding-out well against Sport Huancayo.
Squad16 Dec 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings16 Dec 2030
Two goals and a mark of 8.93 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match16 Dec 2030
Talleres are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 30 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Transfer targets16 Dec 2030
The offer went to River Plate this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad16 Dec 2030
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Talleres will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Market16 Dec 2030
“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 Talleres, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets16 Dec 2030
The offer went to Huracán this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout25 Nov 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market25 Nov 2030
Only the photograph left for Onel Hernández
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Onel Hernández will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Instituto the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad25 Nov 2030
Alex Luna and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom25 Nov 2030
Colón will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Matías Blázquez has pre-agreed a move to Instituto, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad25 Nov 2030
A row about effort at Instituto
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Genaro Barrionuevo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad25 Nov 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Pablo Hofstetter commits to Instituto for another 3 years.
The dugout25 Nov 2030
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Instituto told Santiago Nogales something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad25 Nov 2030
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Instituto will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Market25 Nov 2030
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Mateo Rodríguez has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Instituto.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market30 Sep 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Instituto is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market30 Sep 2030
“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 Instituto, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad30 Sep 2030
Words exchanged at Instituto
Alex Luna 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.
Squad30 Sep 2030
Hernán de la Fuente 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.
The dugout30 Sep 2030
A promise honoured at Instituto
Something was said to Brandon Palacios and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout30 Sep 2030
“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.
Market30 Sep 2030
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Instituto know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout30 Sep 2030
Onel Hernández has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Instituto 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.
Market30 Sep 2030
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Instituto has been clear about where Felipe Vogchumian stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings29 Jul 2030
Nobody could get near Alex Luna
Successful dribbles: 36. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market29 Jul 2030
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Instituto have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market29 Jul 2030
Only the photograph left for Matías Córdoba
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matías Córdoba will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Instituto the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad29 Jul 2030
Alex Luna and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Jul 2030
A row about effort at Instituto
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hernán de la Fuente was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets29 Jul 2030
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.
The dugout29 Jul 2030
“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.
Match27 Jul 2030
Lanús left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout29 Jul 2030
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 0‑1 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market15 Jul 2030
“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 Instituto, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market15 Jul 2030
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Juan Ignacio Méndez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Instituto the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market15 Jul 2030
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Instituto have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad15 Jul 2030
Alex Luna 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 targets15 Jul 2030
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.
The dugout15 Jul 2030
The manager makes an example of Jonathan Galván
“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.
Squad15 Jul 2030
Yutiel Susano 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 targets15 Jul 2030
Boca Juniors have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Squad15 Jul 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Luan Francisco and Instituto agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market24 Jun 2030
“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.
Market24 Jun 2030
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Instituto have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market24 Jun 2030
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The dugout24 Jun 2030
Mamadou Baldé: 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.” Instituto have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets24 Jun 2030
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Boca Juniors keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Boardroom24 Jun 2030
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Santino Chialva has agreed terms with Tigre for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad24 Jun 2030
Alex Luna in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Instituto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom24 Jun 2030
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Joaquín Jara has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Instituto have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Transfer targets24 Jun 2030
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match5 Jun 2030
A season ends in a fortnight for Instituto
2‑3, and Vélez go on. Nine months of work settled by a couple of evenings, which is what a playoff is and what nobody designing one thinks about.
Squad10 Jun 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market10 Jun 2030
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Atlanta waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Instituto is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market10 Jun 2030
Instituto say no — this time
The offer from Godoy Cruz for Matías Córdoba 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.
Transfer targets10 Jun 2030
The deal with Argentinos Juniors 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.
The dugout10 Jun 2030
“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.
Market10 Jun 2030
“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 Instituto, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets10 Jun 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Argentinos Juniors have kept their man, and Instituto go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets10 Jun 2030
Instituto had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Boca Juniors, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match29 May 2030
2‑1 settles it, and a club that spent a season earning the right to play these games has won one of them. Somebody else's season ended tonight, which is the part nobody mentions in the celebrations.
Match29 May 2030
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Jonathan Dellarossa scored in the 85th minute, Racing Club had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Instituto took the lot.
The dugout3 Jun 2030
Onel Hernández: 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.” Instituto have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market3 Jun 2030
“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 Instituto, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 Jun 2030
Alex Luna and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings3 Jun 2030
Alex Luna runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets3 Jun 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olimpia have kept their man, and Instituto go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout3 Jun 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matías Giménez Rojas, and the manager let it.
The terraces3 Jun 2030
He is 23 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 May 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad13 May 2030
Words exchanged at Instituto
Alex Luna 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.
Match11 May 2030
Matías Córdoba among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Matías Córdoba on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Instituto and Vélez.
Match11 May 2030
Matías Córdoba scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑4 to Vélez, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Player ratings13 May 2030
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
Squad13 May 2030
Words at Instituto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maiker Rivas 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 dugout13 May 2030
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 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad13 May 2030
A booking nobody needed, on a night the game was already won. Instituto lose a player for the most avoidable reason there is.
The dugout13 May 2030
The manager makes an example of Mateo Rodríguez
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match24 Apr 2030
The small margins put Instituto out
Out, 3‑3 to All Boys, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Match27 Apr 2030
The 2-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Jonathan Dellarossa was at the centre of it, Talleres were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
Match24 Apr 2030
A 2-goal lead gone for Instituto
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. All Boys kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Instituto will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Player ratings29 Apr 2030
A brace, and Yoel Marchi takes the afternoon — 9.00
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Yoel Marchi provided it, and the 9.00 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad29 Apr 2030
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Market29 Apr 2030
“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 Instituto, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings29 Apr 2030
Age has not caught Onel Hernández yet — 7.88
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.88 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market29 Apr 2030
Only the photograph left for Matías Unyicio
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matías Unyicio will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Instituto the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom29 Apr 2030
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Apr 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The dugout1 Apr 2030
“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.
Player ratings1 Apr 2030
Alex Luna runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad1 Apr 2030
Alex Luna in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Instituto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match30 Mar 2030
1‑2 to Newell's Old Boys, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout1 Apr 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Brandon Palacios, and the manager let it.
Market1 Apr 2030
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Instituto, another week without a signature from Juan Ignacio Méndez.
Squad1 Apr 2030
Maiker Rivas 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.
The dugout1 Apr 2030
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Dec 2029
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Almirante Brown have had the benefit of it.
The dugout17 Dec 2029
Felipe Fernández: 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.” Almirante Brown have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Gastón Moreyra and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets17 Dec 2029
Almirante Brown asked and Newell's Old Boys said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout17 Dec 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bruno Solotar, and the manager let it.
Squad17 Dec 2029
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad17 Dec 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Daniel Morales and Almirante Brown agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout17 Dec 2029
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.
Transfer targets17 Dec 2029
San Lorenzo have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Dec 2029
62 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Almirante Brown lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market10 Dec 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Almirante Brown people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market10 Dec 2029
Franco Pulian has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Almirante Brown they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets10 Dec 2029
Almirante Brown had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Huracán, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Boardroom10 Dec 2029
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.
Squad10 Dec 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Almirante Brown this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets10 Dec 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Aldosivi have kept their man, and Almirante Brown go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market10 Dec 2029
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Gabriel Altamirano has his answer from Almirante Brown; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Transfer targets10 Dec 2029
Instituto have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Dec 2029
A fracture rules Diego Córdoba out for 125 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Instituto will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market10 Dec 2029
“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.
Market10 Dec 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Talleres waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Instituto is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market10 Dec 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mauro Muhlethaler will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Instituto the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad10 Dec 2029
A move Francisco Ortíz would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Francisco Ortíz is living that version at Instituto, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Alex Luna and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets10 Dec 2029
Instituto offered $54.0K; Nueva Chicago said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad10 Dec 2029
A row about effort at Instituto
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hernán de la Fuente was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom10 Dec 2029
Still nobody in the Instituto dugout
9 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom3 Dec 2029
The statement thanked him for his efforts and wished him well, in that order and in about that many words. The search begins immediately.
The terraces3 Dec 2029
Supporters organise against the Instituto board
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.
Boardroom3 Dec 2029
An empty coaching office at Instituto
There is nobody left to promote and nobody left to run a session. The board have brought in a name the supporters do not know, and the question of how a club gets here will outlast whoever answers it.
Boardroom3 Dec 2029
Emergency meeting at Instituto
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Boardroom3 Dec 2029
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.
Market3 Dec 2029
“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.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Words exchanged at Instituto
Alex Luna 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.
Squad3 Dec 2029
A row about effort at Instituto
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hernán de la Fuente was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets3 Dec 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces8 Oct 2029
The mood at Instituto has turned into something else
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.
Boardroom8 Oct 2029
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Instituto can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Player ratings8 Oct 2029
A brace, and Jonathan Dellarossa takes the afternoon — 8.96
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jonathan Dellarossa provided it, and the 8.96 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market8 Oct 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 Instituto, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout8 Oct 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Instituto may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad8 Oct 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Hernán de la Fuente and Instituto agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Words exchanged at Instituto
Alex Luna 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.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Words at Instituto training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Sosa 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.
Squad8 Oct 2029
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Aug 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match25 Aug 2029
Beaten 0‑5 by Boca Juniors, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market27 Aug 2029
“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.
Match25 Aug 2029
6 matches without a win for Instituto
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Instituto are no longer polite ones.
Squad27 Aug 2029
The medical room confirms 25 days on the sidelines for Hernán de la Fuente, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Alex Luna in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Instituto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match25 Aug 2029
Instituto are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad27 Aug 2029
A row about effort at Instituto
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Sosa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom27 Aug 2029
Nobody left the Instituto dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.