Marked for Benicio Cabrera
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Federico Real out for 88 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Flandria will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Benicio Cabrera damages knee ligaments — 18 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
Market14 Dec 2026
Ramiro Lobo 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 Flandria can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Rodrigo Bernal: 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.” Flandria have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Flandria
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Agustín Prokop was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom14 Dec 2026
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Alejandro González 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 dugout14 Dec 2026
Martín López 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.
Transfer targets14 Dec 2026
Flandria have made the call to Sarmiento. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
96 days out for Federico Real after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Flandria will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Benicio Cabrera damages knee ligaments — 25 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A move Hugo Espínola would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Hugo Espínola is living that version at Flandria, and it tends to show in the first month.
Transfer targets7 Dec 2026
Flandria have gone to Colón with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $850.0K — a club that wants Fernando Rodríguez enough to be asked twice.
Match5 Dec 2026
The drought breaks for Flandria
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Deportivo Laferrere were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Flandria
Carlos Morel 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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Facundo Ruiz was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.16. 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Nov 2026
104 days out for Federico Real after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Flandria will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Benicio Cabrera damages knee ligaments — 34 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 34 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Flandria's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Flandria has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad30 Nov 2026
6 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.
Market30 Nov 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 Flandria, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Carlos Morel 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
0‑1 to Ferrocarril Midland, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Matías López beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Facundo Brestt
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Federico Real out for 112 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Flandria will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad23 Nov 2026
43 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Flandria lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market23 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
The wait goes on for Flandria
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Carlos Morel in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Flandria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Flandria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martín López 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 Nov 2026
Marked 8.04 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match21 Nov 2026
Flandria caught on 91 minutes
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then San Martín de Burzaco scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
119 days out for Federico Real after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Flandria will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Benicio Cabrera damages knee ligaments — 51 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 51 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Flandria
Carlos Morel and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Flandria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martín López 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ramiro Lobo, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Franco Costa 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.
Market16 Nov 2026
The clock does Matías Mariatti’s negotiating for him
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Flandria could ask drops and the wages Matías Mariatti can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Nov 2026
58 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Flandria lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad9 Nov 2026
33 days out for Rodrigo Bernal after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Flandria will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match7 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Flandria's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Flandria has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Flandria
Carlos Morel 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Facundo Brestt commits to Flandria for another 4 years.
Match7 Nov 2026
Fénix left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Carlos Morel
“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 dugout9 Nov 2026
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 Liam Flores left the room before anybody could ask which.
Market9 Nov 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Flandria, another week without a signature from Facundo Brestt.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Nov 2026
Benicio Cabrera damages knee ligaments — 65 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 65 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
41 days out for Rodrigo Bernal after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Flandria will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match31 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Flandria's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Flandria has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Facundo Brestt commits to Flandria for another 4 years.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Flandria
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martín López was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
The game went through Martín López — 7.16
Marked 7.16 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Franco Costa, and the manager let it.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 98% of everything Flandria 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.
Market2 Nov 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Flandria, another week without a signature from Matías Mariatti.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Benicio Cabrera
72 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Flandria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Rodrigo Bernal out for 49 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Flandria will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Flandria have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match24 Oct 2026
1‑3 to Argentino de Quilmes, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom26 Oct 2026
Villa San Carlos will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Mauricio Almirón has pre-agreed a move to Flandria, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Flandria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martín López 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Matías Donato
“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 dugout26 Oct 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Flandria told Martín López something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Tadeo Suárez 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Benicio Cabrera
79 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Flandria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Rodrigo Bernal out for 57 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Flandria will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Martín López 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 Oct 2026
14 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Facundo Brestt, and the manager let it.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Marked 7.68. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Match17 Oct 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Dock Sud leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Half-satisfied: Liam Flores on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Martín López knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Martín López trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Benicio Cabrera
86 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Flandria lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad12 Oct 2026
64 days out for Rodrigo Bernal after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Flandria will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Flandria
Carlos Morel 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Martín López 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
Federico Real 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 Flandria, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market12 Oct 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Matías Donato signs something — a contract at Flandria or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Matías López has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Flandria 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Franco Costa has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Franco Costa has written the date down.
Market12 Oct 2026
3 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Flandria money.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Oct 2026
93 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Flandria lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 72 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Carlos Morel 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Emmanuel Ledesma and Flandria agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match3 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 119% of everything Flandria 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 dugout5 Oct 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Liam Flores after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Joan Esteche, and the manager let it.
Market5 Oct 2026
Experience through the door at Flandria
Emmanuel Ledesma arrives at 38 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
102 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Flandria lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad28 Sep 2026
80 days out for Rodrigo Bernal after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Flandria will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
7 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Carlos Morel in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Flandria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Agustín Prokop. 2‑1 against Deportivo Armenio, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 7.94. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Liam Flores, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Tadeo Suárez 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
9 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
Benicio Cabrera damages knee ligaments — 111 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 111 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 88 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
At 38 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.04 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match19 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Flandria
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Flandria are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Flandria
Carlos Morel and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Flandria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martín López 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Facundo Brestt
“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.
Match19 Sep 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
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.” Liam Flores chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.