Marked for Roberto Costa
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match30 Nov 2026
Every point is an argument now for Unión de Santa Fe
Position 15 and 6 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Roberto Costa out for 16 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Unión de Santa Fe will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Unión de Santa Fe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mauro Pittón 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.
Squad30 Nov 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 Unión de Santa Fe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Eric Ramírez, and the manager let it.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Joaquín Mosqueira trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Marcelo Estigarribia has written the date down.
Market30 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Franco Herrera signs something — a contract at Unión de Santa Fe or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Questions about Jeremías González on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Unión de Santa Fe may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad23 Nov 2026
24 days out for Roberto Costa after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Unión de Santa Fe will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Lautaro Vargas 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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Unión de Santa Fe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Gomes Gerth 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
Matías Schulz gets picked when it counts
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 Matías Schulz is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
Roberto Costa breaks a bone — 31 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Unión de Santa Fe may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Mauro Pittón 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Juan Pablo Ludueña and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Unión de Santa Fe told Lautaro Vargas something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matías Rocha, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Maizon Rodríguez 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.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
The goals keep arriving from Enzo Roldán’s exile
3 goals in 9 games at Nueva Chicago — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Unión de Santa Fe updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
38 days out for Roberto Costa after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Unión de Santa Fe will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Mauro Pittón 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Augusto Solari and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A mark of 7.77, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Match7 Nov 2026
It needed Ignacio Malcorra to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Instituto, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Noah Bruno after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Nov 2026
10 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match2 Nov 2026
Position 15, 5 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad2 Nov 2026
46 days out for Roberto Costa after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Unión de Santa Fe will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match31 Oct 2026
It had gone 11 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A defender's afternoon for Matías Rocha
Defensive actions: 21. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mauro Pittón, and the manager let it.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Lautaro Vargas 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Oct 2026
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Unión de Santa Fe are no longer polite ones.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Roberto Costa out for 54 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Unión de Santa Fe will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market26 Oct 2026
“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 Unión de Santa Fe, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Marked 7.77 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Mauro Pittón 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Bruno Pittón 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Matías Mansilla
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
62 days out for Roberto Costa after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Unión de Santa Fe will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Unión de Santa Fe may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Oct 2026
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 39 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mauro Pittón was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Lautaro Vargas 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Matías Rocha
“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.
Loan watch19 Oct 2026
9 appearances away from home and 3 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
72 days out for Roberto Costa after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Unión de Santa Fe will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Lautaro Vargas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brahian Cuello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Something was said to Cristian Tarragona and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Oct 2026
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Unión de Santa Fe are no longer polite ones.
Match5 Oct 2026
Every point is an argument now for Unión de Santa Fe
Position 15 and 2 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad5 Oct 2026
79 days out for Roberto Costa after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Unión de Santa Fe will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad5 Oct 2026
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mauro Pittón was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match3 Oct 2026
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Unión de Santa Fe's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Unión de Santa Fe has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Augusto Solari 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
“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.
Market21 Sep 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Miguel Pérez has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market21 Sep 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Valentino Méndez has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market21 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Juan Pablo Fernández 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.
Market21 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Roberto Costa 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
San Lorenzo left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.