Marked for Daniel Castillo
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Sep 2035
24 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad24 Sep 2035
The medical room confirms 28 days on the sidelines for Lucas López Iglesias, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad24 Sep 2035
Antonio Napolitano 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.
Squad24 Sep 2035
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Agropecuario Argentino know it.
Squad24 Sep 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stanislav Stanek 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.
Match22 Sep 2035
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout24 Sep 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hassan Yaqoob, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 Sep 2035
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 0‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Player ratings24 Sep 2035
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Jun 2035
9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match9 Jun 2035
Beaten 0‑3 by Sacachispas, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market11 Jun 2035
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Agropecuario Argentino can pretend not to have heard.
Match9 Jun 2035
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Agropecuario Argentino are no longer polite ones.
Squad11 Jun 2035
Antonio Napolitano 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.
Transfer targets11 Jun 2035
Agropecuario Argentino asked and River Plate said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match9 Jun 2035
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match5 Jun 2035
0‑2 to Argentino de Quilmes, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom11 Jun 2035
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $14.7M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 May 2035
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market14 May 2035
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Agropecuario Argentino can pretend not to have heard.
Squad14 May 2035
Antonio Napolitano 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.
Match12 May 2035
Güemes left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom14 May 2035
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
The dugout14 May 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Felipe Flores, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 May 2035
“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 dugout14 May 2035
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.
Squad14 May 2035
Raúl De Luca is the weekend's best young player
At 19 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Mar 2035
13 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match13 Mar 2035
0‑1 against Patronato, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Match17 Mar 2035
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Agropecuario Argentino has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad19 Mar 2035
Antonio Napolitano 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.
Match17 Mar 2035
Fénix left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom19 Mar 2035
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Squad19 Mar 2035
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Agropecuario Argentino can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout19 Mar 2035
“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.
The dugout19 Mar 2035
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 Rolando Martínez is on it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Feb 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match10 Feb 2035
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Agropecuario Argentino are no longer polite ones.
Squad12 Feb 2035
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.
The dugout12 Feb 2035
“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 ratings12 Feb 2035
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.39, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout12 Feb 2035
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 1‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Market12 Feb 2035
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Antonio Napolitano’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout12 Feb 2035
The manager has not finished forgetting Daniel Castillo's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces29 Jan 2035
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad29 Jan 2035
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Agropecuario Argentino will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market29 Jan 2035
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Agropecuario Argentino can pretend not to have heard.
Squad29 Jan 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Agropecuario Argentino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom29 Jan 2035
The club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Agropecuario Argentino this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Jan 2035
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Agropecuario Argentino will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad15 Jan 2035
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.
Squad15 Jan 2035
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Agropecuario Argentino are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout15 Jan 2035
“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 dugout15 Jan 2035
The manager has not finished forgetting Daniel Castillo's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Market15 Jan 2035
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Rolando Martínez signs something — a contract at Agropecuario Argentino or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad15 Jan 2035
The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at Agropecuario Argentino says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.
The dugout15 Jan 2035
Felipe Flores asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Dec 2034
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Agropecuario Argentino will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market18 Dec 2034
“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.
Squad18 Dec 2034
Lucas López Iglesias 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.
Squad18 Dec 2034
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonio Napolitano 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.
Transfer targets18 Dec 2034
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rosario Central have kept their man, and Agropecuario Argentino go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets18 Dec 2034
A loan enquiry to Rosario Central: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout18 Dec 2034
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Juan Carlos Martínez, and the manager let it.
Boardroom18 Dec 2034
A clause somebody insisted on years ago, in a negotiation nobody remembers, has just paid Agropecuario Argentino $433.3K. Alejo Medina left a long time ago; the paperwork stayed.
The dugout18 Dec 2034
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 Nov 2034
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 103 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad20 Nov 2034
Antonio Napolitano and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Nov 2034
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leonardo Costa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Oct 2034
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Agropecuario Argentino will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad23 Oct 2034
Lucas López Iglesias 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.
Squad23 Oct 2034
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonio Napolitano 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 dugout23 Oct 2034
Enzo Ramírez 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.
The dugout23 Oct 2034
Daniel Castillo is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Sep 2034
Felipe Martínez damages knee ligaments — 27 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 27 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.
Match23 Sep 2034
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Agropecuario Argentino are no longer polite ones.
Squad25 Sep 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Agropecuario Argentino this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Sep 2034
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Antonio Napolitano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match23 Sep 2034
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match23 Sep 2034
Chacarita Juniors left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout25 Sep 2034
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hassan Yaqoob, and the manager let it.
The dugout25 Sep 2034
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings25 Sep 2034
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market28 Aug 2034
“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 Agropecuario Argentino, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 Aug 2034
Antonio Napolitano and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match26 Aug 2034
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout28 Aug 2034
“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 dugout28 Aug 2034
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 0‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Player ratings28 Aug 2034
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Aug 2034
Leonardo Costa 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.
Squad28 Aug 2034
At 19 years old, Daniel Castillo became the latest name off the academy production line to be handed a senior shirt.