The clubs have shaken hands with Madryn; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“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 The request is on a desk at Colegiales, and it is not being withdrawn.
Iván Medina 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. River Plate have kept their man, and Colegiales go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alan Duré was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 The request is on a desk at Colegiales, and it is not being withdrawn.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Colegiales had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Huracán, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
6 goals in one match, Homero Sala on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Colegiales and Güemes.
Juan Ibáñez 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iván Medina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Colegiales, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Atlético Tucumán is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Carlos Herrera has agreed terms with Racing for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atlético Tucumán have kept their man, and Colegiales go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iván Medina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Adriano Cordero 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.
“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.
Juan Ibáñez 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iván Medina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Gustavo Puello 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Iván Medina 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
“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.
Out, 0‑8 to Argentinos Juniors, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
0-8, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match23 Apr 2031
Nobody could stop scoring
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Colegiales and Argentinos Juniors in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
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.
Squad28 Apr 2031
Iván Medina 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.
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.
“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.
It had gone 6 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad14 Apr 2031
Words at Colegiales training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Medina 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.
Adriano Cordero 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.
At 19 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.
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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Colegiales and Gimnasia y Tiro, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Gustavo Puello 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.
Ricardo Flores, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.77
A mark of 7.77 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“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.
Enzo Trinidad and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Mar 2031
Words at Colegiales training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Medina 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.
It needed Ricardo Flores to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Alvarado, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout17 Mar 2031
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Daniel Correa was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Colegiales dressing room was either.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Tristán Suárez next, and one man in the Colegiales dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Colegiales lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Santiago Strasorier scored, was marked 7.53, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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.
Squad3 Mar 2031
Words at Colegiales training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Medina 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 95. Güemes had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Santiago Strasorier 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.
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Colegiales lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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.
Iván Medina 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Words at Colegiales training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alan Duré 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.
18 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
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.
Enzo Trinidad 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.
Colegiales asked and Belgrano said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad13 Jan 2031
Words at Colegiales training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Medina 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 table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at Colegiales says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.
In brief
MarketThe window shut and Alan Duré is still in the building
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Facundo Rivero has agreed terms with Tigre for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Juan Ibáñez 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 one award nobody else on the pitch can win goes to Hernán Quiroga, on 1 clean sheets across the season. Keepers wait a career for a season like it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Estudiantes have kept their man, and Colegiales go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Colegiales have made the call to River Plate. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Colegiales have made the call to Rosario Central. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Fernando Uriel trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Juan Ibáñez 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.
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.
“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.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Santiago Strasorier plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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.
Carlos Herrera 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.
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 7.46, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
“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 dugout26 Aug 2030
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 1‑3 Daniel Correa left the room before anybody could ask which.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Colegiales have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
The deal with Defensa y Justicia is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
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.
Colegiales asked and Atlético Tucumán said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.