Ramiro Luna 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.
a squad player 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Thomas Ortega signs something — a contract at Quilmes or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Quilmes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words at Quilmes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ramiro Luna 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.
“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 Quilmes know it.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
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.
Thomas Ortega 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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Federico Mazzurco commits to Quilmes for another 4 years.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Quilmes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ramiro Luna 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Bernard Baba
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Quilmes can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Quilmes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at Quilmes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Ortega 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.
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 Ian Rasso is on it.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Quilmes that is a harder question to answer.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thomas Ortega was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Quilmes will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Esteban Glellel signs something — a contract at Quilmes or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Quilmes 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 registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
In brief
The terracesThe stands have heard the Jano Coronel talk too
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Quilmes can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Quilmes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Thomas Ortega 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Quilmes can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.