41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Villa San Carlos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Villa San Carlos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
7.71, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Villa San Carlos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Tomás Akimenco 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.
48 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Villa San Carlos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Villa San Carlos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Villa San Carlos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rafael Luiz 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Thiago Coria. 1‑0 against Deportivo Laferrere, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout20 Sep 2032
Simón Ávalos is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Villa San Carlos will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Massimo Saliszewski provided it, and the 9.04 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Villa San Carlos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Villa San Carlos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 94 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Defensores will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Villa San Carlos were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Villa San Carlos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Simón Ávalos has agreed terms with Vélez for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Villa San Carlos and Defensores in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Villa San Carlos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.93 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Two goals and a mark of 8.16 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Villa San Carlos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom26 Jul 2032
Villa San Carlos close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 18 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Villa San Carlos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Villa San Carlos and San Miguel, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
In brief
SquadWords at Villa San Carlos training over how hard people work
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Villa San Carlos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Villa San Carlos have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings5 Jul 2032
A brace, and Hugo Arias takes the afternoon — 8.10
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Hugo Arias provided it, and the 8.10 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Villa San Carlos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Tomás Akimenco 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignacio Peluffo 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Gimnasia La Plata have kept their man, and Villa San Carlos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 150 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Argentino de Quilmes will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Villa San Carlos were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rafael Luiz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Villa San Carlos the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Tigre is saying, and nobody at Villa San Carlos is enjoying the guessing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ignacio Peluffo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Villa San Carlos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignacio Peluffo 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.
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout31 May 2032
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Valentín Flores chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
In brief
The dugoutSimón Ávalos knocks on the manager's door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Villa San Carlos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Saymon. 2‑0 against Gimnasia y Esgrima, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Tomás Akimenco 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignacio Peluffo 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Villa San Carlos has been clear about where João Victor stands, which is more than many ever get.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Valentín Flores after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Chances created: 10. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Saymon provided it, and the 8.66 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Santiago Castro will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Villa San Carlos the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Tomás Akimenco 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Villa San Carlos know it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ignacio Peluffo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 easiest signature of my career.” Tomás Akimenco and Villa San Carlos agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Villa San Carlos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Villa San Carlos will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 9 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Tomás Akimenco 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ignacio Peluffo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
9 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.57 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Villa San Carlos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Tomás Akimenco 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.
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.
He is 23 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.
50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Rafael Luiz at his very best
8 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Defensores will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Villa San Carlos were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 8.12 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.81 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Villa San Carlos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
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 words a physio says slowly. 14 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.72 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Villa San Carlos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Villa San Carlos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Villa San Carlos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Villa San Carlos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Tomás Akimenco 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Thiago Martínez. 3‑1 against Los Andes, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Villa San Carlos can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.94 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings1 Mar 2032
A brace, and Hugo Arias takes the afternoon — 8.03
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Hugo Arias provided it, and the 8.03 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 Villa San Carlos, and it is not being withdrawn.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.91, and 2 involvements.
Tomás Akimenco 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Villa San Carlos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Villa San Carlos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignacio Peluffo 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Villa San Carlos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Villa San Carlos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignacio Peluffo 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“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 Villa San Carlos, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Massimo Saliszewski provided it, and the 8.15 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Villa San Carlos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
7 goals in one match, Tadeo Calgaro on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Villa San Carlos and Alvarado.
In brief
Player ratingsTadeo Calgaro was on a different afternoon to everybody else
The match ball belongs to Tadeo Calgaro, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings20 Oct 2031
A brace, and Hugo Arias takes the afternoon — 8.08
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Hugo Arias provided it, and the 8.08 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 Villa San Carlos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Tomás Akimenco 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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Villa San Carlos and Chaco For Ever in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignacio Peluffo 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Villa San Carlos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignacio Peluffo 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Villa San Carlos told Tadeo Calgaro something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Tomás Akimenco 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignacio Peluffo 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ezequiel Pérez has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
A 2‑0 win over San Martín de Burzaco, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Marked 8.06 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Villa San Carlos, another week without a signature from Saymon.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Villa San Carlos can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Villa San Carlos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Richard has, at Villa San Carlos, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Villa San Carlos know it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luis Campero will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Villa San Carlos the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Jacob Mensah has just signed for Villa San Carlos, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hugo Arias was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ezequiel Pérez has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“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 Villa San Carlos, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Villa San Carlos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ezequiel Pérez and Villa San Carlos agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hugo Arias 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.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Villa San Carlos know which stage they are at.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Villa San Carlos, another week without a signature from Simón Ávalos.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Luis Schlishting has his answer from Villa San Carlos; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Villa San Carlos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Villa San Carlos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Ignacio Peluffo 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.
Villa San Carlos asked and Tigre said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is 23 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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 15 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Villa San Carlos can pretend not to have heard.
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
Simón Ávalos 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.
Villa San Carlos asked and Tigre said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Villa San Carlos can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Argentino de Merlo waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Villa San Carlos is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Villa San Carlos know it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Unión de Santa Fe have kept their man, and Villa San Carlos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ignacio Peluffo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Villa San Carlos, and it is not being withdrawn.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
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.
Alejo Lloyaiy 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.
Chaco For Ever will want this one forgotten quickly: 6‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Villa San Carlos were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Massimo Saliszewski provided it, and the 8.98 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Simón Ávalos 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Villa San Carlos and Chaco For Ever, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
A performance of 8.42 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad19 May 2031
Hugo Arias 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.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.89 beside his name.
Simón Ávalos 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.
A 2‑1 win over Deportivo Merlo, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Luis Campero in the middle of it, and Deportivo Merlo unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Villa San Carlos has been clear about where Alejo Lloyaiy stands, which is more than many ever get.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Belizán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“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 Villa San Carlos, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.97 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Villa San Carlos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Villa San Carlos are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ezequiel Pérez has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hugo Arias 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.52 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Simón Ávalos 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.
He is 23 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.
Marked 8.15 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad14 Apr 2031
Bruno Belizán 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 dugout14 Apr 2031
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.” Valentín Flores kept it short after the 4‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Simón Ávalos 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.
8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout24 Mar 2031
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Valentín Flores left the room before anybody could ask which.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Belizán 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.
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Massimo Saliszewski was the best thing in any of them.
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.
“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 Villa San Carlos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Chacón was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“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 Villa San Carlos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Tomás Akimenco 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Lucas Rian has, at Villa San Carlos, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Belizán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The offer from Independiente for Tomás Sives was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Villa San Carlos can pretend not to have heard.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Tigre is saying, and nobody at Villa San Carlos is enjoying the guessing.
Tomás Akimenco 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vélez have kept their man, and Villa San Carlos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is 23 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Villa San Carlos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Thiago Martínez and Villa San Carlos agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The name of Thiago Vidal has come up in conversations Villa San Carlos were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad2 Dec 2030
João Victor 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and João Victor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Valentín Flores on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
The dugoutAlejo Lloyaiy is still being punished for one mistake