Marked for Daniel Nunez
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Mar 2036
50 days out for Rogelio Espínola after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Salto will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad31 Mar 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Salto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Mar 2036
Bautista Cabrera 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.
Boardroom31 Mar 2036
The borrowing at Salto reaches $11.2M
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $11.2M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
The dugout31 Mar 2036
The manager makes an example of Cristian Britos
“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.
Looking ahead31 Mar 2036
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Matteo Larrosa’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Salto needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout31 Mar 2036
Bruno Ibáñez 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 Salto, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market31 Mar 2036
The clock does Mathías Bernatene’s negotiating for him
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Salto could ask drops and the wages Mathías Bernatene can ask rise.
The dugout31 Mar 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.
In brief
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Boardroom
The Salto production line keeps running
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Looking ahead
Looking ahead: Boston River at home
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The dugout
Bryan Paz keeps his manager's vote
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Mar 2036
4 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Match15 Mar 2036
16 unbeaten for Salto
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 16 matches without defeat is a foundation Salto did not have in the autumn.
Squad17 Mar 2036
A fracture rules Rogelio Espínola out for 64 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Salto will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match12 Mar 2036
Salto march on in the cup
Canadian are out and Salto go through, 2‑2 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings17 Mar 2036
Two goals and a mark of 7.99 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match15 Mar 2036
The run at home goes on for Salto
13 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Match15 Mar 2036
A 1‑0 win over Villa Teresa, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout17 Mar 2036
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Julio Duarte, and the manager let it.
Player ratings17 Mar 2036
A masterclass from Bryan Paz
Marked 8.06 — 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.
In brief
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Player ratings
Daniel Nunez fails from the spot
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Squad
13 new faces, and Salto are still learning each other
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Player ratings
Nobody could get near Noah Ramos
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout23 Apr 2035
Daniel Nunez: 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.” Tuna Luso have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market23 Apr 2035
Only the photograph left for Luís Eduardo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luís Eduardo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tuna Luso the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings23 Apr 2035
The game went through Guilherme Reis — 7.48
Marked 7.48 on 18 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Market23 Apr 2035
“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 Tuna Luso, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad23 Apr 2035
Ibson 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 Tuna Luso this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom23 Apr 2035
The approach has gone in and the answer belongs to All Boys. Business like this is done quietly and reported loudly, and rarely in that order.
Match21 Apr 2035
6 matches without a win, and then this, against Barcelona de Ilhéus. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Boardroom23 Apr 2035
Tuna Luso still without a manager
8 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market26 Mar 2035
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tuna Luso can pretend not to have heard.
Squad26 Mar 2035
Eduardo Tavares and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout26 Mar 2035
This is not rotation. Paulo Xavier has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Tuna Luso is pretending otherwise.
Squad26 Mar 2035
Guilherme Reis 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.
Boardroom26 Mar 2035
No signings allowed at Tuna Luso
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Boardroom26 Mar 2035
106% of the income goes out in wages at Tuna Luso
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.
The dugout26 Mar 2035
Tiago Lopes 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 Tuna Luso, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market26 Mar 2035
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Guilherme Reis signs something — a contract at Tuna Luso or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market26 Mar 2035
2 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Tuna Luso could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Mar 2035
“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 Tuna Luso, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market12 Mar 2035
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Tuna Luso, another week without a signature from Breno Sossai.
Squad12 Mar 2035
Tuna Luso are still strangers to each other
8 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.
The dugout12 Mar 2035
Ibson 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 Ibson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market12 Mar 2035
Lucas Bessa linked with a move away
The name of Lucas Bessa keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Tuna Luso say nothing, which says plenty.
Market12 Mar 2035
Ibson runs his contract down
5 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Tuna Luso money.
Boardroom12 Mar 2035
The Tuna Luso production line keeps running
82 graduates out of an academy now rated 7 out of 20. Clubs this size survive on exactly that, and the town knows every name.
Squad12 Mar 2035
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Tuna Luso and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
Squad12 Mar 2035
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market26 Feb 2035
“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 Tuna Luso, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Feb 2035
Ibson 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 Tuna Luso this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout26 Feb 2035
This is not rotation. Paulo Xavier has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Tuna Luso is pretending otherwise.
Boardroom26 Feb 2035
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
Boardroom26 Feb 2035
111% of the income goes out in wages at Tuna Luso
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.
Squad26 Feb 2035
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Tuna Luso can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout26 Feb 2035
Luís Eduardo 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 Tuna Luso, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market26 Feb 2035
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Guilherme Reis signs something — a contract at Tuna Luso or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market26 Feb 2035
3 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Tuna Luso could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 Jan 2035
31 days out for Antonio Martínez after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Tuna Luso will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout29 Jan 2035
This is not rotation. Paulo Xavier has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Tuna Luso is pretending otherwise.
Market29 Jan 2035
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tuna Luso can pretend not to have heard.
Squad29 Jan 2035
Luís Eduardo 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 Tuna Luso this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom29 Jan 2035
Tuna Luso cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
The dugout29 Jan 2035
The manager makes an example of Luís Eduardo
“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.
Boardroom29 Jan 2035
Wages swallow 100% of the Tuna Luso income
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.
Squad29 Jan 2035
Thanasis Mandalos 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 Jan 2035
Luís Tavares 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 Luís Tavares trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Jan 2035
56 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tuna Luso lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad15 Jan 2035
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 45 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market15 Jan 2035
“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 Tuna Luso, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 Jan 2035
Words exchanged at Tuna Luso
Ibson 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 targets15 Jan 2035
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Paysandu have kept their man, and Tuna Luso go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market15 Jan 2035
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Tuna Luso, another week without a signature from Daniel Nunez.
Squad15 Jan 2035
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Tuna Luso are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market15 Jan 2035
Lucas Bessa linked with a move away
The name of Lucas Bessa keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Tuna Luso say nothing, which says plenty.
Market15 Jan 2035
The clock does Ibson’s negotiating for him
7 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Tuna Luso could ask drops and the wages Ibson can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Dec 2034
91 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tuna Luso lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad11 Dec 2034
44 days out for Lucas Bessa after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Tuna Luso will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market11 Dec 2034
Professor 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 Tuna Luso can pretend not to have heard.
Squad11 Dec 2034
Eduardo Neves gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Eduardo Neves has just signed for Tuna Luso, and for once the answer mattered.
Transfer targets11 Dec 2034
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Brasil de Pelotas have kept their man, and Tuna Luso go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad11 Dec 2034
Words at Tuna Luso training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Professor 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.
Market11 Dec 2034
He is 18, and nobody at Tuna Luso signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The dugout11 Dec 2034
Guilherme Reis has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Tuna Luso 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.
Market11 Dec 2034
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Nov 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mohamed Niaré
105 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tuna Luso lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad27 Nov 2034
Lucas Bessa breaks a bone — 58 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 58 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom27 Nov 2034
Pressure builds in the Tuna Luso boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match27 Nov 2034
Full time on the season at Tuna Luso
Position 10 on 37 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Match25 Nov 2034
6 matches without a win for Tuna Luso
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Tuna Luso are no longer polite ones.
Match25 Nov 2034
6 matches without a goal for Tuna Luso
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad27 Nov 2034
Ibson 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 Tuna Luso this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match25 Nov 2034
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad27 Nov 2034
Words at Tuna Luso training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Nunez 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 Nov 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mohamed Niaré
112 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tuna Luso lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad20 Nov 2034
Lucas Bessa breaks a bone — 65 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 65 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout20 Nov 2034
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Tuna Luso may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad20 Nov 2034
Ibson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Nov 2034
Words at Tuna Luso training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Professor 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.
Market20 Nov 2034
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ersi Zaganjori has his answer from Tuna Luso; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Market20 Nov 2034
The Lucas Bessa talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Tuna Luso know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout20 Nov 2034
Victor Araujo 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 Victor Araujo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout20 Nov 2034
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Oct 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mohamed Niaré
147 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tuna Luso lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad16 Oct 2034
Lucas Bessa breaks a bone — 100 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 100 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad16 Oct 2034
Words exchanged at Tuna Luso
Ibson 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.
Squad16 Oct 2034
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Tuna Luso are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout16 Oct 2034
“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.
The dugout16 Oct 2034
Guilherme Reis has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Tuna Luso 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.
Looking ahead16 Oct 2034
Professor faces his old club
Central next, and one man in the Tuna Luso dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market16 Oct 2034
The Ibson question follows Tuna Luso around
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ibson’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout16 Oct 2034
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.