Marked for Brian Hernandez
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 Aug 2029
Chastening afternoon for Defensores
A 0‑4 beating by Fénix was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market20 Aug 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Defensores they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market20 Aug 2029
The offer from Hapoel Haifa for Francisco Tcherkaski was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Boardroom20 Aug 2029
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Nicolás Borsotti has agreed terms with Vélez for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad20 Aug 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 Defensores this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout20 Aug 2029
The manager makes an example of Anthony 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.
Boardroom20 Aug 2029
Nobody left the Defensores dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout20 Aug 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑4 defeat, delivered by Lucas Ponce to a room that had heard them before.
Squad20 Aug 2029
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Defensores are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Jul 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Nicolás Benegas
44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Defensores lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match14 Jul 2029
No end in sight to Defensores's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Defensores has to find a result from somewhere.
Market16 Jul 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Defensores can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout16 Jul 2029
This is not rotation. Ivan Borges has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Defensores is pretending otherwise.
Market16 Jul 2029
The phone has started ringing about Ivan Borges again, and this time the name on the line is Brown de Adrogué. Defensores are listening politely and promising nothing.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
Defensores have gone to San Martín with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
Defensores asked and Villa San Carlos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout16 Jul 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Anthony Núñez, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Jan 2029
110 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Defensores lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market29 Jan 2029
Ivan Borges hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Defensores can pretend not to have heard.
Squad29 Jan 2029
A row about effort at Defensores
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Magallanes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad29 Jan 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 Defensores this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Jan 2029
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Defensores are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Brian Hernandez, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Jan 2029
117 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Defensores lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market22 Jan 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Nicolás Borsotti 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.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words at Defensores training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Magallanes 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.
Market22 Jan 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Defensores know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market22 Jan 2029
The shop window has Ivan Borges in it
Defensores have let the market know Ivan Borges can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Jul 2028
Leonardo Landriel damages knee ligaments — 104 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 104 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.
Match29 Jul 2028
Francisco Tcherkaski had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Flandria were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Market31 Jul 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 Defensores, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market31 Jul 2028
The name of Franco Sassone has come up in conversations Defensores were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Match29 Jul 2028
2‑3 to Flandria, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
A performance of 8.33 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Gabriel Colombo 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.
Boardroom31 Jul 2028
Wages eat 96% of everything Defensores earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Loan watch31 Jul 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 Defensores, and 8 appearances in 27 say he has earned the hearing.