Marked for Ignacio Romero
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces26 Jan 2032
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad26 Jan 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Argentinos Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jan 2032
Kevin Coronel 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 dugout26 Jan 2032
“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.
Loan watch26 Jan 2032
“I watch every Argentinos Juniors game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at San Martín runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout26 Jan 2032
Kevin Coronel has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Argentinos Juniors 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.
Market26 Jan 2032
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Francisco Álvarez’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout26 Jan 2032
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Kevin Coronel has written the date down.
Squad26 Jan 2032
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Argentinos Juniors the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces29 Dec 2031
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Transfer targets29 Dec 2031
Everything agreed with Huracán, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad29 Dec 2031
Lucas Chaves 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.
Squad29 Dec 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Claudio Bravo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets29 Dec 2031
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.
Transfer targets29 Dec 2031
A loan enquiry to Lecce: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout29 Dec 2031
Kevin Coronel has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Argentinos Juniors 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.
Market29 Dec 2031
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Francisco Álvarez’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout29 Dec 2031
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Jun 2031
Lucas Chaves breaks a bone — 93 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 93 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match4 Jun 2031
Unión de Santa Fe ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Market9 Jun 2031
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Noah Medina had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market9 Jun 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Argentinos Juniors can pretend not to have heard.
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 Argentinos Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets9 Jun 2031
$250.0K on the table at Temperley. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad9 Jun 2031
Ignacio Romero arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ignacio Romero has, at Argentinos Juniors, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad9 Jun 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francisco Álvarez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings9 Jun 2031
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.