Marked for General
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market9 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 Colegiales can pretend not to have heard.
Squad9 Jul 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 Colegiales this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match7 Jul 2029
1‑3 to Maipú, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings9 Jul 2029
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
Boardroom9 Jul 2029
Wages eat 99% of everything Colegiales 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.
The dugout9 Jul 2029
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
Colegiales have made the call to Nueva Chicago. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The terraces9 Jul 2029
Every touch weighed, every quote parsed, every mistake replayed. Some players grow into that; some are quietly finished by it; nobody knows which until afterwards.
The dugout9 Jul 2029
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match24 Feb 2029
3‑0, and Valentín Quevedo took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Colegiales tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad26 Feb 2029
The match ball belongs to Valentín Quevedo, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Enzo Trinidad and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
Ninety minutes of Valentín Quevedo at his very best
Marked 9.59. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Colegiales.
The terraces26 Feb 2029
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Benjamín Figueredo has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad26 Feb 2029
50 goals in these colours now, every one of them somebody’s memory. There is a supporter in the stand who can tell you where he was for most of them.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Leonardo Rodríguez could afford to be generous.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
“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
Steady
Market25 Dec 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colegiales can pretend not to have heard.
Market25 Dec 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colegiales they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom25 Dec 2028
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Rodrigo Monserrat has agreed terms with Banfield for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Franco Hanashiro 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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
A row about effort at Colegiales
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valentín Quevedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
“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.
The dugout25 Dec 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 Leonardo González is on it.
Market25 Dec 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Emilio Di Fulvio’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market25 Dec 2028
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Colegiales money.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market27 Nov 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 Colegiales, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market27 Nov 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colegiales they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Franco Malagueño and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
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 Leonardo González is on it.
Market27 Nov 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Emilio Di Fulvio’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market27 Nov 2028
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Colegiales money.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Nov 2028
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Colegiales will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market13 Nov 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Franco Zicarelli will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colegiales the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Franco Malagueño 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.
Boardroom13 Nov 2028
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Colegiales now.
Squad13 Nov 2028
A row about effort at Colegiales
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valentín Quevedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
“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.
Market13 Nov 2028
The name of Valentín Quevedo keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Colegiales say nothing, which says plenty.
Market13 Nov 2028
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Colegiales money.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Oct 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Colegiales will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market16 Oct 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colegiales they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Fernando Miranda 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.
Boardroom16 Oct 2028
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Colegiales, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market16 Oct 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Colegiales know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match16 Sep 2028
Rodrigo Monserrat wins it after the whistle should have gone
94 minutes played. Rodrigo Monserrat found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Tristán Suárez went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Market18 Sep 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colegiales is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market18 Sep 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colegiales can pretend not to have heard.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Franco Hanashiro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom18 Sep 2028
The numbers do not look good at Colegiales
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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Colegiales training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valentín Quevedo 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 terraces18 Sep 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Benjamín Figueredo has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
No hiding place for General
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to General, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout4 Sep 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Colegiales may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market4 Sep 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colegiales they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Enzo Trinidad 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
Mario García 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.
The dugout4 Sep 2028
Mario García gets it from the manager
“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.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Franco Malagueño ran the middle of the pitch — 6.79
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 6.79, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
88% of the income goes out in wages at Colegiales
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The dugout4 Sep 2028
General dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Aug 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Franco Zicarelli will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colegiales the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market21 Aug 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 Colegiales, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
Marked 7.97. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Franco Malagueño 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.
Boardroom21 Aug 2028
The numbers do not look good at Colegiales
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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words at Colegiales training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valentín Quevedo 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.
Match19 Aug 2028
Three points for Colegiales, 3‑1 the final word against Arsenal in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
Marked 8.56 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad21 Aug 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” José Luna commits to Colegiales for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Jan 2028
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Market10 Jan 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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Enzo Trinidad 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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Colegiales training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valentín Quevedo 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.
Market10 Jan 2028
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Benjamín Moreno 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.
Market10 Jan 2028
One of our own: General joins the Colegiales first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. General is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
“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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Colegiales are still strangers to each other
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Squad10 Jan 2028
No place for Anushil Prasad in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Colegiales are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.