Marked for Gianfranco Rastelli
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Apr 2029
A falling-out at Morón
Iván Vaquero and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces9 Apr 2029
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout9 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.
Player ratings9 Apr 2029
The afternoon belonged to Thiago Lauro
A mark of 7.88, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Match7 Apr 2029
It needed Thiago Lauro to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Mitre, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ezequiel Bruno was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Morón dressing room was either.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Gianfranco Rastelli is on it.
Market9 Apr 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Maximiliano Badur’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market5 Mar 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Morón can pretend not to have heard.
Match3 Mar 2029
The wait goes on for Morón
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.
The dugout5 Mar 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Morón may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad5 Mar 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Emanuel Iñíguez commits to Morón for another 2 years.
Match3 Mar 2029
2‑3 to San Martín SJ, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Words at Morón training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Vaquero 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.
Squad5 Mar 2029
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
The dugout5 Mar 2029
The manager makes an example of Julián Bragado
“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 dugout5 Mar 2029
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ezequiel Bruno after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market29 Jan 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.
Squad29 Jan 2029
A falling-out at Morón
Marcos Acuña and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Iván Vaquero 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 dugout29 Jan 2029
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.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gianfranco Rastelli, and the manager let it.
Market29 Jan 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Emanuel Iñíguez signs something — a contract at Morón or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 Jan 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 Morón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market15 Jan 2029
The Tomás Ramírez conversation is coming
Everyone has stopped pretending: Spezia will make the call about Tomás Ramírez this week. Morón have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad15 Jan 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Hugo Pratissoli commits to Morón for another 4 years.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
Jairo Ebel gets it from the manager
“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.
Market15 Jan 2029
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad15 Jan 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 Morón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
Iván Vaquero 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 Morón, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
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.
Market15 Jan 2029
The Iván Vaquero story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Iván Vaquero signs something — a contract at Morón or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets18 Dec 2028
Morón and Unión de Santa Fe have settled on $46.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Transfer targets18 Dec 2028
Morón had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Talleres, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Tempers go at Morón
Tomás Ramírez 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 targets18 Dec 2028
The offer went to Atlético Tucumán 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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words at Morón training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mariano Bittolo 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.
Market18 Dec 2028
Madryn paid $45.0K and Morón took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Transfer targets18 Dec 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Central Córdoba SdE have kept their man, and Morón go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gianfranco Rastelli, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market23 Oct 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Morón can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Morón may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Tempers go at Morón
Santiago Kubiszyn 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 Oct 2028
A row about effort at Morón
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mariano Bittolo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad23 Oct 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alejandro Hermes commits to Morón for another 3 years.
Market23 Oct 2028
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Gianfranco Rastelli has his answer from Morón; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
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.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
Gael Rossi gets it from the manager
“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.
Market23 Oct 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Morón know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Jan 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 Morón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market17 Jan 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Morón is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Morón training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mariano Bittolo 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Tempers go at Morón
Maximiliano Badur 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.
Market17 Jan 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Morón, another week without a signature from Iván Vaquero.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Too much change too quickly at Morón
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout17 Jan 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Santiago Kubiszyn trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Tempers go at Morón
Santiago Kubiszyn 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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Morón
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tomás Ramírez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
The manager makes an example of Thiago Lauro
“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.
Market10 Jan 2028
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Market10 Jan 2028
Benjamin Gasman is 20, and Morón 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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Morón are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
Iván Vaquero 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 Morón, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market10 Jan 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Morón know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.