Marked for Leonel Sánchez
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Apr 2029
Nicolás Fernández damages knee ligaments — 30 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 30 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market16 Apr 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Federico Postel will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around UAI Urquiza the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Franco Mesa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Luciano Arcuri 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 dugout16 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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Player ratings16 Apr 2029
Nobody on the pitch touched Franco Mesa
7.42, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. UAI Urquiza had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Joaquín Varela kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets15 Jan 2029
The deal with Tigre 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.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Franco Mesa 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.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luciano Arcuri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets15 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.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
Valentín Pesse 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 UAI Urquiza, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market15 Jan 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Franco Mesa’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market15 Jan 2029
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs UAI Urquiza money.
Market15 Jan 2029
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Valentín Pesse may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom27 Nov 2028
Pressure builds in the UAI Urquiza boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market27 Nov 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 UAI Urquiza can pretend not to have heard.
Match25 Nov 2028
4 matches without a win for UAI Urquiza
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around UAI Urquiza are no longer polite ones.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Franco Mesa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Benjamín Ortíz 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.
Match25 Nov 2028
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
The terraces27 Nov 2028
He is 21 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.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
7.42, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. UAI Urquiza had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout28 Aug 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” UAI Urquiza may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Franco Mesa 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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Luciano Arcuri 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.
Match26 Aug 2028
A 1‑0 win over Villa Dálmine, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Market28 Aug 2028
“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.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Marked 7.84. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Joaquín Varela kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
Tomás Asprea asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad28 Aug 2028
A booking nobody needed, on a night the game was already won. UAI Urquiza lose a player for the most avoidable reason there is.