Marked for Facundo Castillo
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Franco Vedoya
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Central Norte lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Central Norte will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market9 Nov 2026
“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 The request is on a desk at Central Norte, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Agustín Lamosa 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Gonzalo Álvez 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.
Market9 Nov 2026
Joaquín Mateo is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Central Norte has been clear about where Joaquín Mateo stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“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.
Market9 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Erik Bodencer’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Central Norte. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Oct 2026
50 days out for Santiago Cuellar after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Central Norte will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market12 Oct 2026
“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 The request is on a desk at Central Norte, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Agustín Lamosa 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maximiliano Ribero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matías Villarreal trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market12 Oct 2026
The Enzo Vázquez talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Central Norte know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The terraces12 Oct 2026
The Erik Bodencer rumours reach the terraces
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. Central Norte would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Matías Moravec wants to know why he earns less
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Central Norte have no good answer.
Market12 Oct 2026
The shop window has Pavel Fretes in it
Central Norte have let the market know Pavel Fretes can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Aug 2026
A 0‑3 beating by Nueva Chicago was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market3 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Central Norte can pretend not to have heard.
Market3 Aug 2026
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Maximiliano Ribero wants continental football; whether Central Norte can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Matías Villarreal and Central Norte agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Erik Bodencer 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Agustín Lamosa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Central Norte dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.