Marked for Sergio Ponce
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Mar 2037
Nicolás Garnica damages knee ligaments — 45 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 45 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.
Squad23 Mar 2037
The medical room confirms 18 days on the sidelines for Tomás González, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Match21 Mar 2037
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad23 Mar 2037
Words at Estudiantes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bill 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.
Player ratings23 Mar 2037
Nobody could get near Bill
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad23 Mar 2037
Matías Valenti has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Estudiantes 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.
Market23 Mar 2037
The name of Tobías Ostchega keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Estudiantes say nothing, which says plenty.
Player ratings23 Mar 2037
5.72. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
Player ratings23 Mar 2037
5.77. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Mar 2037
Nicolás Garnica damages knee ligaments — 52 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 52 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.
Market16 Mar 2037
“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.
Match14 Mar 2037
Newell's Old Boys left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad16 Mar 2037
Francisco Suárez 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.
Squad16 Mar 2037
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Claudio Lopez knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Squad16 Mar 2037
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market9 Mar 2037
Sergio Ponce hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Estudiantes can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings9 Mar 2037
Defensive actions: 25, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad9 Mar 2037
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nicolás Garnica commits to Estudiantes for another 3 years.
Player ratings9 Mar 2037
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.29, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match7 Mar 2037
Three points for Estudiantes, 1‑0 the final word against San Telmo in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad9 Mar 2037
Words at Estudiantes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francisco Suárez 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.
Player ratings9 Mar 2037
Leandro Duarte was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.20. 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.
Player ratings9 Mar 2037
Defensive actions: 18. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Boardroom9 Mar 2037
106% of the income goes out in wages at Estudiantes
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market9 Feb 2037
“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.
Squad9 Feb 2037
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Francisco Suárez commits to Estudiantes for another 2 years.
Squad9 Feb 2037
“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.
Squad9 Feb 2037
Bill 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.
Boardroom9 Feb 2037
95% of the income goes out in wages at Estudiantes
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
Squad9 Feb 2037
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.
Player ratings9 Feb 2037
13 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.
Player ratings9 Feb 2037
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match7 Feb 2037
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Chacarita Juniors defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Jan 2037
Francisco Suárez 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.
Squad26 Jan 2037
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.
Squad26 Jan 2037
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Jan 2037
“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 Estudiantes, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 Jan 2037
Francisco Suárez 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.
Boardroom12 Jan 2037
101% of the income goes out in wages at Estudiantes
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Dec 2036
A fracture rules Leonel Herrera out for 40 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Estudiantes will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market15 Dec 2036
The offer from Defensores Unidos for Matías Valenti was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market15 Dec 2036
Sergio Ponce hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Estudiantes can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Dec 2036
Francisco Suárez 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.
Squad15 Dec 2036
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” José Iglesias and Estudiantes agree another 3 years.
Squad15 Dec 2036
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Nov 2036
A fracture rules Leonel Herrera out for 68 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Estudiantes will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market17 Nov 2036
“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.
Squad17 Nov 2036
Bill 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Oct 2036
A fracture rules Leonel Herrera out for 96 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Estudiantes will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad20 Oct 2036
Leonardo Sosa: 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.” Estudiantes have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market20 Oct 2036
Sergio Ponce hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Estudiantes can pretend not to have heard.