Mauricio Alaniz 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.
17 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout7 Aug 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Miguel Quiroga chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Mauricio Alaniz is 35 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Unión de Santa Fe; Agropecuario Argentino go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 16-year-old it feels ownership of. Sergio Moretti 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.
8.08. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sergio Moretti and Agropecuario Argentino agree another 3 years.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Damián Lemos damages knee ligaments — 156 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 156 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.
Antonio Napolitano 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Agropecuario Argentino, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Danilo Ruiz Díaz signs something — a contract at Agropecuario Argentino or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The terraces8 Nov 2027
Supporters make their feelings known about Braian Aranda
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Agropecuario Argentino would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.