Marked for César Núñez
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 May 2027
A fracture rules Franco Di Santo out for 151 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Deportivo Santani will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad17 May 2027
Marcelo González 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno López was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 May 2027
“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 dugout17 May 2027
A promise honoured for César Núñez
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Deportivo Santani told César Núñez something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout17 May 2027
Blas Maciel 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.
Match15 May 2027
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout17 May 2027
Armando Bernaola has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Deportivo Santani 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.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Shots: 9. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Apr 2027
0‑5 against Sportivo Ameliano, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Marcelo González 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Deportivo Santani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno López 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 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aldo Galeano, and the manager let it.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑5, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Something was said to César Núñez and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad19 Apr 2027
5 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Mar 2027
Marcelo González 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Juan Sánchez 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 dugout22 Mar 2027
César Núñez 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.
Match20 Mar 2027
0‑1 to Guairena, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
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 Luis Gomez left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The plan did not have a place for Alex Aguilar
Nobody at Deportivo Santani is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
The clubs have shaken hands with Nacional; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with Cerro Porteno, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Olimpia is saying, and nobody at Deportivo Santani is enjoying the guessing.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Marcelo González and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Deportivo Santani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Sánchez 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
10 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 dugout18 Jan 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Blas Maciel's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Market18 Jan 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marcelo González signs something — a contract at Deportivo Santani or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.20, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Deportivo Santani's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Deportivo Santani has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad24 Aug 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 Deportivo Santani this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match22 Aug 2026
2‑3 to Pastoreo, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Deportivo Santani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jesús Servín 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 terraces24 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Oscar Cabrera 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.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of César Núñez
“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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
No place for Alex Aguilar in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Deportivo Santani are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match8 Aug 2026
0‑6 to Sportivo San Lorenzo, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad10 Aug 2026
There were 8 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Oscar Cabrera arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Oscar Cabrera has, at Deportivo Santani, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
The stands have turned
“Enough is enough. We have watched this for months.” 6 of the 24 senior players walked off to it, and the message was not aimed at any one of them.
Match8 Aug 2026
Nobody could stop scoring
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Deportivo Santani and Sportivo San Lorenzo in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Diego Lopez 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ramon Balbuena is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Santiago Sanabria is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Roberto Cardozo 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.