Marked for Alejandro Tapia
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Jan 2027
Ramiro Costa breaks a bone — 139 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 139 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market25 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Agustín Lamosa 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Central Norte training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maximiliano Ribero 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.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
106% of the income goes out in wages at Central Norte
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Pedro Sanz, and the manager let it.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ezequiel Quiroga trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad25 Jan 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Central Norte will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
66 days out for Agustín Lamosa 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.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Gianluca Mancuso: 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.” Central Norte have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market30 Nov 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Agustín Lamosa 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Tomás Castro 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 207% of everything Central Norte earn
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.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Alejandro Tapia
“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.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Ramiro Costa 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 Central Norte, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
108 days out for Agustín Lamosa 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.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Fabricio Hass: 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.” Central Norte have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market19 Oct 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Central Norte this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Central Norte training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomás Castro 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alejandro Tapia, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Central Norte, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market19 Oct 2026
The name of Enzo Vázquez keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Central Norte say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout19 Oct 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Agustín Lamosa 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Central Norte training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Villarreal 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 dugout7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Alejandro Tapia
“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 ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Joaquín Mateo slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Joaquín Mateo is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Central Norte will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
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.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
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.” Facundo Ramírez chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.