Marked for Conrado Martínez
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Nov 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for David Escalante
156 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ferro Carril Oeste lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
This is not rotation. Misael Tarón has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Ferro Carril Oeste is pretending otherwise.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Francisco Cuzzani 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
He is 21, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Ferro Carril Oeste training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Misael Tarón 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.
Loan watch27 Nov 2028
“I did not go to FC Lahti to sit and watch. I want to come back to Ferro Carril Oeste and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 17 matches say the rest.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
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 Felipe Obradovich is on it.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
Matías Konecny 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
Steady
Market6 Nov 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ferro Carril Oeste is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Lucas Ruiz and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Misael Tarón was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
Tiago Esidín knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tiago Esidín trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
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 Santiago García is on it.
Market6 Nov 2028
The Lucas Ruiz story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lucas Ruiz signs something — a contract at Ferro Carril Oeste or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad6 Nov 2028
A programme of his own, away from the group, aimed at one thing the staff think is holding him back. Most improvement happens like this and none of it makes the paper.
Market6 Nov 2028
Unión de Santa Fe watched Conrado Martínez again at the weekend, and this time they did not bother hiding it. Clubs only stop hiding when they want the price to start moving.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout30 Oct 2028
This is not rotation. Misael Tarón has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Ferro Carril Oeste is pretending otherwise.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Misael Tarón 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 Ferro Carril Oeste this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Oct 2028
A season average of 7.01 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Ferro Carril Oeste know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad30 Oct 2028
The medical room confirms 80 days on the sidelines for Gino Aguirre, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Loan watch30 Oct 2028
“I did not go to FC Lahti to sit and watch. I want to come back to Ferro Carril Oeste and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
Matías Kabalín knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matías Kabalín trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Loan watch30 Oct 2028
The goals keep arriving from Santino Dudar’s exile
7 goals in 16 games at Confiança — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Ferro Carril Oeste updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
Felipe Obradovich has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Ferro Carril Oeste 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout2 Oct 2028
This is not rotation. Misael Tarón has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Ferro Carril Oeste is pretending otherwise.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Ulises Yegros 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.
Squad2 Oct 2028
He is 21, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words at Ferro Carril Oeste training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Misael Tarón 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.
Market2 Oct 2028
Misael Tarón is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Ferro Carril Oeste has been clear about where Misael Tarón stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matías Kabalín, and the manager let it.
Squad2 Oct 2028
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Santiago García has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Loan watch2 Oct 2028
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Ferro Carril Oeste, and 3 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
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 Felipe Obradovich is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market18 Sep 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Felipe Obradovich will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ferro Carril Oeste the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad18 Sep 2028
71 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Lucas Ruiz 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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Conrado Martínez and Ferro Carril Oeste agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Loan watch18 Sep 2028
15 shut-outs in 30 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Leonel Szalich has been having a lot of them.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Felipe Obradovich, and the manager let it.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
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.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Santiago García trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market18 Sep 2028
3 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Ferro Carril Oeste could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match4 Sep 2028
Position 10 on 39 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.15, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Tobías Pérez, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.90
A mark of 7.90 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market4 Sep 2028
“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.
The dugout4 Sep 2028
This is not rotation. Misael Tarón has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Ferro Carril Oeste is pretending otherwise.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Lucas Ruiz and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Sep 2028
A season average of 7.01 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Ferro Carril Oeste know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad4 Sep 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Matías Konecny and Ferro Carril Oeste agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Feb 2028
“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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ferro Carril Oeste will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market14 Feb 2028
Emiliano Ozuna has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ferro Carril Oeste they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom14 Feb 2028
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Emiliano Ozuna has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Misael Tarón 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.
The terraces14 Feb 2028
At 22 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 dugout14 Feb 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Santiago García, and the manager let it.
Market14 Feb 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Oct 2027
Misael Tarón 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.
Market11 Oct 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Ferro Carril Oeste training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustavo Canto 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.
Loan watch11 Oct 2027
“I did not go to Beitar Jerusalem to sit and watch. I want to come back to Ferro Carril Oeste and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 17 matches say the rest.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Santiago García has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Ferro Carril Oeste 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 dugout11 Oct 2027
Enzo Hoyos 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.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Lucas Escalante'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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Oct 2027
A fracture rules Santiago García out for 14 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ferro Carril Oeste will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market4 Oct 2027
“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 Ferro Carril Oeste, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match2 Oct 2027
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ferro Carril Oeste has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Enzo Hoyos 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.
Match2 Oct 2027
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Match2 Oct 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ulises Yegros was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout4 Oct 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 0‑2 Carlos Moreno left the room before anybody could ask which.