Marked for Hernán Suárez
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match2 Nov 2030
43 matches without a win for Los Andes
The run now stands at 43, and the questions being asked around Los Andes are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom4 Nov 2030
Mateo Gutiérrez has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Los Andes can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Match2 Nov 2030
Los Andes leaking at the back
10 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Boardroom4 Nov 2030
The Los Andes board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Match2 Nov 2030
Los Andes cannot find the net
7 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad4 Nov 2030
A one-man rearguard from Lucas Roa
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
The dugout4 Nov 2030
This is not rotation. Alan Ríos has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Los Andes is pretending otherwise.
Match2 Nov 2030
Argentino de Merlo left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad4 Nov 2030
Gael Luna 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Sep 2030
Alan Ríos 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.
Squad9 Sep 2030
At 33, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Boardroom9 Sep 2030
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Los Andes now.
Squad9 Sep 2030
A row about effort at Los Andes
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joan Larroude was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout9 Sep 2030
“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 dugout9 Sep 2030
This is not rotation. Sergio Aguirre has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Los Andes is pretending otherwise.
Market9 Sep 2030
“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.
The dugout9 Sep 2030
Hernán Suárez is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Looking ahead9 Sep 2030
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Johann Laureiro’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Los Andes needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Jan 2030
Joan Larroude damages knee ligaments — 57 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 57 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad28 Jan 2030
Words exchanged at Los Andes
Alexis González 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.
Squad28 Jan 2030
Words at Los Andes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luis Peralta 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.
Boardroom28 Jan 2030
The numbers do not look good at Los Andes
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
The dugout28 Jan 2030
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexis González trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout28 Jan 2030
Hernán Suárez is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Dec 2029
Joan Larroude damages knee ligaments — 85 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 85 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market31 Dec 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 Los Andes, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets31 Dec 2029
Everything agreed with Lanús, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets31 Dec 2029
Los Andes have gone to Central Córdoba SdE with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Boardroom31 Dec 2029
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Los Andes now.
Market31 Dec 2029
Central Norte are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Los Andes will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad31 Dec 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Joan Larroude and Los Andes agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets31 Dec 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Words exchanged at Los Andes
Alan Ríos 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market15 Oct 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 Los Andes, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Los Andes may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Words exchanged at Los Andes
Lautaro Giménez 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.
Squad15 Oct 2029
A row about effort at Los Andes
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Benjamín Garay was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad15 Oct 2029
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
This is not rotation. Carlos Ojeda has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Los Andes is pretending otherwise.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
Benjamín Garay 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 Benjamín Garay trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
João Xavier gets it from the manager
“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.
Looking ahead15 Oct 2029
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Carlos Ojeda’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Los Andes needing him to play as if none of it matters.