Marked for Sergio Gimenez
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Sep 2032
Luciano Tiscornia 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.
Boardroom13 Sep 2032
The Platense debt reaches $7.3M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
The dugout13 Sep 2032
“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 dugout13 Sep 2032
Carlos Pacheco has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Platense 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 dugout13 Sep 2032
The manager makes Lucas Soto a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Platense. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Squad13 Sep 2032
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Platense will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout8 Mar 2032
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Platense may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad8 Mar 2032
Henry Rochón 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.
Boardroom8 Mar 2032
$162.7K of the owner's money at Platense
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Match6 Mar 2032
Villa Espanola made Platense work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings8 Mar 2032
Marked 8.12 — 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.
Squad8 Mar 2032
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Platense know it.
Squad8 Mar 2032
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout8 Mar 2032
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.” Recep Demiral, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Looking ahead8 Mar 2032
The leaders are next for Platense
Canadian top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Jul 2031
124 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Platense lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom28 Jul 2031
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Platense
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market28 Jul 2031
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Oriental had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market28 Jul 2031
Jorge Paz 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 Platense can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Jul 2031
A falling-out at Platense
Luciano Tiscornia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom28 Jul 2031
Wages swallow 148% of the Platense 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.
Market28 Jul 2031
A stepping stone, not a home, for Sergio Ramirez
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Platense were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
Market28 Jul 2031
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Squad28 Jul 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sergio Gimenez and Platense agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.