Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Agustín Venezia 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.
Squad23 Nov 2037
Natã Felipe 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.
In brief
SquadEnzo Hoyos has become a man the manager trusts
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Iquique this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2037
Words at Iquique training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Natã Felipe 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 mood at Iquique 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Agustín Venezia 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Iquique have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Iquique will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Iquique will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Iquique this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Iquique training over how hard people work
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Iquique lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Iquique will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Iquique will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The words a physio says slowly. 33 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Iquique will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.