A 1‑0 win over Ferro Carril Oeste, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Patronato scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
15 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 17-year-old it feels ownership of. Benjamín Silva 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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 5 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Patronato is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The deal with Sacachispas 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.
Valentin Pereyra 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
1 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 8.01 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ole Singh provided it, and the 8.20 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Agustín Sciaroni 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.
Squad19 Jan 2032
Words at Patronato training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valentin Pereyra 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Patronato can pretend not to have heard.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Patronato will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Patronato spent the window trying to move Raúl Flores on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
44 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad10 Nov 2031
Words at Patronato training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valentin Pereyra 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.
David Caicedo 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Patronato, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Valentin Pereyra 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 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.
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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Patronato has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Patronato, and both men came out saying it was fine.