Marked for Benjamín Silva
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Dec 2029
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Facundo Maldonado had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The dugout10 Dec 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Transfer targets10 Dec 2029
The deal with Agropecuario Argentino died in the treatment room. Nobody will say what was found and everybody in the game will find out by Friday.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Claudio Pombo 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 dugout10 Dec 2029
The manager makes an example of Franco Rossi
“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.
Market10 Dec 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Emiliano Endrizzi signs something — a contract at Gimnasia y Esgrima or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout10 Dec 2029
Benjamín Silva 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.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Kafiatur Rizky is not doing himself any favours
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 Oct 2029
Juan Benítez 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 Gimnasia y Esgrima can pretend not to have heard.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Claudio Pombo 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 dugout29 Oct 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Milton Álvarez, and the manager let it.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
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 Milton Álvarez is on it.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
Gonzalo Puntano 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.
Market29 Oct 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Octavio Bianchi’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Jul 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Gimnasia y Esgrima have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market17 Jul 2028
“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 Gimnasia y Esgrima, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market17 Jul 2028
Only the photograph left for Nahuel Denis
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nahuel Denis will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gimnasia y Esgrima the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings17 Jul 2028
Nobody could get near Axel Pinto
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match15 Jul 2028
Central Norte left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market17 Jul 2028
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Benjamín Silva has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Boardroom17 Jul 2028
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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Axel Pinto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.