Marked for Facundo Domínguez
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Sep 2028
Mauro Rolando damages knee ligaments — 54 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 54 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.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.29, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Lucas Rodríguez: 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.” Nacional have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad4 Sep 2028
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market4 Sep 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Emiliano de Oliveira will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Nacional the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market4 Sep 2028
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Diogo Guzmán wants continental football; whether Nacional can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Match2 Sep 2028
Whatever happens, Nacional do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad4 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nacional this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Aug 2028
Mauro Rolando damages knee ligaments — 63 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 63 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.
Market28 Aug 2028
Tigres come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Nacional did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad28 Aug 2028
“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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Luciano Boggio 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.
Match26 Aug 2028
Still nobody has beaten Nacional
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Francisco Calvo 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.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Defensive actions: 21. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match26 Aug 2028
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Montevideo City Torque will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad31 Jul 2028
Mauro Rolando damages knee ligaments — 99 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 99 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.
Match26 Jul 2028
Nacional through in the cup
A 2‑1 win over Deportivo Maldonado, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match26 Jul 2028
Nacional win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 103th minute. Deportivo Maldonado will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.62 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
No sign of nerves from Facundo Domínguez at 21 — 7.77
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Facundo Domínguez did not need any: 7.77, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market31 Jul 2028
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Lucas Morales wants continental football; whether Nacional can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Luciano Boggio 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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Words at Nacional training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco González 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
Uneasy
Player ratings26 Jun 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.16, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market26 Jun 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 Nacional, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Jun 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nacional this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market26 Jun 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Nacional have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Player ratings26 Jun 2028
21 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Player ratings26 Jun 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad26 Jun 2028
The manager makes an example of Lautaro Herrera
“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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Nicolás 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 May 2028
A fracture rules Emiliano Ancheta out for 52 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Nacional will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match6 May 2028
Nacional win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. Defensor Sporting will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Match8 May 2028
Nacional up to position 2
25 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad8 May 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sebastián Coates and Nacional agree another 2 years.
Squad8 May 2028
Luciano Boggio 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.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Nacional training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco González 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 terraces8 May 2028
At 22 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.
Player ratings8 May 2028
A performance of 8.78 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Apr 2028
A fracture rules Emiliano Ancheta out for 79 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Nacional will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad17 Apr 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Nacional have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad17 Apr 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nacional this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market17 Apr 2028
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Camilo Cándido wants continental football; whether Nacional can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Franco González 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.
Match15 Apr 2028
0‑1 to Wanderers, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
5.76. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
Loan watch17 Apr 2028
The goals keep arriving from Agustín Rogel’s exile
3 goals in 9 games at River Plate — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Nacional updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Feb 2027
Sebastián Sosa damages knee ligaments — 64 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 64 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.
Match13 Feb 2027
Beaten 1‑4 by Wanderers, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
The terraces15 Feb 2027
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 8 of the 32 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Match13 Feb 2027
6 matches without a win for Juventud
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Juventud are no longer polite ones.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Rodrigo Chagas 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.
Boardroom15 Feb 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Juventud
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Alejo Cruz 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 Feb 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Marcelo Fernandez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market15 Feb 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Alvaro Torres has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.