Marked for Erick Isla
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Apr 2029
A falling-out at Colón
Nicolás Talpone and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Apr 2029
A row about effort at Colón
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Renzo Sastre was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market2 Apr 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Colón, another week without a signature from Gabriel Risso Patrón.
Squad2 Apr 2029
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Jeremías Sabbatini is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Squad2 Apr 2029
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
Alan Bonansea has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Colón 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.
Market2 Apr 2029
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Marcelo Coates has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Colón.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
The manager makes an example of Erick Isla
“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.
Market2 Apr 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Colón know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market29 Jan 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colón they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
This is not rotation. Franco Saucedo has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Colón is pretending otherwise.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Renzo Sastre 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.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Words exchanged at Colón
Luca Campagnaro 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.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Colón are still strangers to each other
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Market29 Jan 2029
The name of Gabriel Risso Patrón keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Colón say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market22 Jan 2029
“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 Colón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market22 Jan 2029
Mateo Faure has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colón they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Tempers go at Colón
Luca Campagnaro 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.
Market22 Jan 2029
Mateo Faure is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Colón has been clear about where Mateo Faure stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Franco Farías has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Colón will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout22 Jan 2029
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 dugout22 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Erick Isla, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 Jan 2029
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.
Market22 Jan 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nicolás Thaller signs something — a contract at Colón or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market20 Nov 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 Colón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad20 Nov 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Gabriel Risso Patrón 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.
Boardroom20 Nov 2028
Colón counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Colón now.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
“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.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
The manager makes an example of Erick Isla
“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.
Market20 Nov 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Nicolás Thaller’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Colón that is a harder question to answer.
The terraces20 Nov 2028
The stands have heard the Matías Córdoba talk too
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Colón would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match15 Jul 2028
4‑1, and Matías Córdoba took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Colón tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings17 Jul 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.75 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings17 Jul 2028
Jano Aguiar, 20, steals the show — 8.19
Marked 8.19 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market17 Jul 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colón is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market17 Jul 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Colón have done the hard part with Villa San Carlos, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Tempers go at Colón
Nicolás Talpone 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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Erick Isla arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Erick Isla has, at Colón, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Market17 Jul 2028
Thiago Fusco has left for Aldosivi in a $250.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.