Marked for Marcelo Cabrera
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Oct 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Rosario Central, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom25 Oct 2027
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Facundo Piozzi 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Ángel Di María 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.
Market25 Oct 2027
Only the photograph left for Tomás Salteño
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tomás Salteño will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rosario Central the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match23 Oct 2027
It finished 1‑0, and it was Cedric Gondo’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Rosario Central.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Kevin Álvarez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.20. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Franco Cervi, and the manager let it.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Franco Cervi is still being punished for one mistake
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.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Juan Carlos Silva could afford to be generous.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
At 39 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.08, and nobody on the pitch better.
The dugout20 Sep 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Ángel Di María 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.
Market20 Sep 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rosario Central is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match18 Sep 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ángel Di María. 2‑0 against Argentinos Juniors, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Marked 8.26. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Rosario Central.
Squad20 Sep 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Marcelo Cabrera commits to Rosario Central for another 4 years.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
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.” Juan Carlos Silva, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Rosario Central training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabricio Oviedo 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match16 Sep 2026
Out, 1‑2 to Independiente, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market21 Sep 2026
“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 ratings21 Sep 2026
Age has not caught Ángel Di María yet — 8.37
At 38 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.37 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Damián Fernández 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.
Market21 Sep 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rosario Central they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rosario Central this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Alan Rodríguez 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
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.