Marked for Thiago Juritsch
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Nov 2029
“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 The request is on a desk at Atlanta, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Alejo Dramisino 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 dugout19 Nov 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad19 Nov 2029
A row about effort at Atlanta
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franco Caro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout19 Nov 2029
“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.
The dugout19 Nov 2029
Rodrigo Sosa asks for a word with the manager
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces29 Oct 2029
The mood at Atlanta has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market29 Oct 2029
“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.
Squad29 Oct 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atlanta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Words at Atlanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thiago Juritsch 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.
Squad29 Oct 2029
“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 Atlanta know it.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
Rodrigo Sosa gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Rodrigo Sosa is on it.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
“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.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Vicente Maximiliano trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market29 Oct 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Atlanta know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Oct 2029
Prokhor Guzhvin damages knee ligaments — 35 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 35 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.
The terraces1 Oct 2029
The mood at Atlanta has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market1 Oct 2029
“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 Atlanta, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad1 Oct 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atlanta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Words at Atlanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thiago Juritsch 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 dugout1 Oct 2029
Rodrigo Sosa has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Atlanta 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.
Market1 Oct 2029
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Duvan Romero has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Atlanta.
The dugout1 Oct 2029
Rodrigo Sosa asks for a word with the manager
“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.
Market1 Oct 2029
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 May 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Exequiel Zárate
73 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Atlanta lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout28 May 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad28 May 2029
Franco Caro in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atlanta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 May 2029
Three points for Atlanta, 1‑0 the final word against Tristán Suárez in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad28 May 2029
Words at Atlanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico 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.
Match28 May 2029
Atlanta at the halfway mark
Half the programme played, position 13, 19 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Player ratings28 May 2029
Marked 7.48 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Atlanta had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout28 May 2029
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Carlos Pereyra, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout28 May 2029
A promise honoured at Atlanta
Something was said to Franco Caro and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces19 Mar 2029
Supporters organise against the Atlanta board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Alejo Dramisino 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.
Match17 Mar 2029
A bad afternoon for Atlanta against Maipú
1‑3 to Maipú, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad19 Mar 2029
A row about effort at Atlanta
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Federico Castro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
A performance of 8.00 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Carlos Pereyra after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
The manager makes an example of Thiago Juritsch
“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 dugout19 Mar 2029
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.
Looking ahead19 Mar 2029
Racing next, and one man in the Atlanta dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout29 Jan 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad29 Jan 2029
Words exchanged at Atlanta
Alejo Dramisino 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 Jan 2029
Words at Atlanta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Caro 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.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Atlanta are still strangers to each other
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 dugout29 Jan 2029
“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.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
Julián Aquino has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Atlanta 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.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
Alex Soria 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 Atlanta, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market29 Jan 2029
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Damián Arruabarrena may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Market29 Jan 2029
The Rodrigo Sosa story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Rodrigo Sosa signs something — a contract at Atlanta or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces27 Nov 2028
The mood at Atlanta has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom27 Nov 2028
Pressure builds in the Atlanta boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market27 Nov 2028
Only the photograph left for Tomás Rojas
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tomás Rojas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Atlanta the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market27 Nov 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 Atlanta, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad27 Nov 2028
Alejo Dramisino 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
A row about effort at Atlanta
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christian Bernardi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
A promise honoured at Atlanta
Something was said to Tomás Rojas and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
“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.