Marked for Facundo Santos
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market29 May 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 The request is on a desk at Rocha, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market29 May 2028
Only the photograph left for Nahuel Andrada
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nahuel Andrada will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rocha the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout29 May 2028
“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.
Squad29 May 2028
Words exchanged at Rocha
Francisco Sorondo 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.
Match27 May 2028
0‑2 to Deutscher FK, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Rocha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Lugano 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 ratings29 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout29 May 2028
“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 dugout29 May 2028
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Rocha told Rodrigo Arias something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Mar 2028
Tempers go at Rocha
Thiago Nascente 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 dugout27 Mar 2028
The manager makes an example of Facundo Santos
“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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Nicolás Lugano 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
“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 Rocha will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
Juan Piris 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 Juan Piris has written the date down.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
Adrián Reta 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 Adrián Reta trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market27 Mar 2028
Still no signature from Adrián Reta
3 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Rocha could get for him.
Market27 Mar 2028
Rocha have made Juan Martín Gonella available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Market27 Mar 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Diego de Souza signs something — a contract at Rocha or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Jan 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 Rocha, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cerro have kept their man, and Rocha go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Nicolás Lugano 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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Adrián Reta 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 Rocha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jan 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Facundo Nicolay commits to Rocha for another 2 years.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
Nicolás Lugano 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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Rocha will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
“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.
Market24 Jan 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Dylan Albornoz’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 Nov 2027
“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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at Rocha
Fabricio Santos 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Nicolás Lugano 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 dugout22 Nov 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Fabricio Santos trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Facundo Santos
“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.
Market22 Nov 2027
The name of Diego de Souza keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Rocha say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad22 Nov 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Rocha will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Market22 Nov 2027
The clock does Adrián Reta’s negotiating for him
7 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Rocha could ask drops and the wages Adrián Reta can ask rise.
Market22 Nov 2027
Rocha have let the market know Santiago Fernández can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match4 Oct 2027
Rocha sink to position 14
22 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Rocha
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad4 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Rocha
Fabricio Santos and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Loan watch4 Oct 2027
The goals keep arriving from Facundo Barrett’s exile
12 goals in 24 games at Treze — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Rocha updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rocha, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Rocha told Thiago Ferraro something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Market4 Oct 2027
The name of Alejo Fernández keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Rocha say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Rocha’s own kid cannot get a game
At 17, Facundo Santos has come through every age group this club has, and now watches a borrowed player of much the same level start every week. An academy notices these things, and so do the parents in the stand.
Squad4 Oct 2027
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at Rocha says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Rocha
Alejo Fernández 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Rocha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Lugano 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.
Loan watch27 Sep 2027
The goals keep arriving from Facundo Barrett’s exile
10 goals in 23 games at Treze — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Rocha updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Facundo Santos, and the manager let it.
Market27 Sep 2027
The name of Diego de Souza keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Rocha say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
Manuel Ayala 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 Manuel Ayala trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Rafael Castro
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rocha lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rocha will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Tempers go at Rocha
Adrián Reta 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 dugout29 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Fabricio Santos
“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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Rocha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian Correa 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 dugout29 Mar 2027
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 Nicolás Lugano is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Rocha have done the hard part with Penarol, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
No thanks: Erico Cuello rejects the move
Rocha had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Defensor Sporting, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Rocha
Adrián Reta 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 dugout25 Jan 2027
Martín Mazza has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Rocha 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Rocha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Arango 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 dugout25 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Facundo Santos, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The deal with Defensor Sporting is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Rocha
Thiago Nascente 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Rocha asked and La Luz said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market11 Jan 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Federico Viera is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market11 Jan 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Rafael Castro has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market11 Jan 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Andres Martinez 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Facundo Santos is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Rocha training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Arango 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.