Marked for Facundo Gutiérrez
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market30 Nov 2026
“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.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Mitre may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Agustín Rocha out for 63 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mitre 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 exchanged at Mitre
Ignacio Pietrobono 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.
Market30 Nov 2026
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Mitre can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Mitre
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Alessandroni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 225% of everything Mitre 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Diego Arias
“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.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
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 Mateo Montenegro is on it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market2 Nov 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mitre can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Brian Mieres: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mitre have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Mitre
Ignacio Pietrobono 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 225% of everything Mitre 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 dugout2 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Gonzalo Córdoba commits to Mitre for another 4 years.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Marcos Machado 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 dugout2 Nov 2026
Favio Cabral knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mitre, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Mateo Montenegro has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Mitre will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 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 Mitre, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Mitre
Ignacio Pietrobono 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Juan Alessandroni 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages swallow 298% of the Mitre income
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.
The dugout5 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.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
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.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Diego Arias knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mitre, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market5 Oct 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Gastón Unrein has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Mitre.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Mitre. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match2 Sep 2026
Mitre bow out of the cup
Vélez go through and Mitre go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Mitre
Ignacio Pietrobono 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Mitre
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Alessandroni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 Sep 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.