Marked for Ignacio Perez
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market7 Apr 2036
Only the photograph left for David Cabrera
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. David Cabrera will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cerro Largo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match5 Apr 2036
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Cerro Largo did not have in the autumn.
Squad7 Apr 2036
Miguel Hernández 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.
Match5 Apr 2036
The run at home goes on for Cerro Largo
9 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Player ratings7 Apr 2036
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Apr 2036
Carlos Rivas 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.
Player ratings7 Apr 2036
Ninety minutes of Luis Meneses at his very best
Marked 8.02. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Cerro Largo.
Market7 Apr 2036
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Cerro Largo, another week without a signature from Franco Marichal.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Mar 2036
A fracture rules Juan González out for 29 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cerro Largo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market10 Mar 2036
David Cabrera has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cerro Largo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad10 Mar 2036
Miguel Hernández 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 dugout10 Mar 2036
The manager makes an example of Cristian Vargas
“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.
Player ratings10 Mar 2036
Luis Meneses was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.21. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Match8 Mar 2036
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad10 Mar 2036
Too much change too quickly at Cerro Largo
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout10 Mar 2036
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout10 Mar 2036
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Cerro Largo dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 Mar 2036
A fracture rules Juan González out for 36 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cerro Largo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom3 Mar 2036
An order from above at Cerro Largo: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Squad3 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 Cerro Largo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match1 Mar 2036
Three points for Cerro Largo, 1‑0 the final word against Canadian in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad3 Mar 2036
Gonzalo Vitureira 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 dugout3 Mar 2036
The manager makes an example of Ignacio Perez
“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.
Player ratings3 Mar 2036
Marked 7.81. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Boardroom3 Mar 2036
Wages swallow 85% of the Cerro Largo 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.
The dugout3 Mar 2036
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Interim Coach kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Feb 2036
A fracture rules Juan González out for 50 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cerro Largo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market18 Feb 2036
Mauro Bonilla 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 Cerro Largo can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout18 Feb 2036
Luis Varela: 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.” Cerro Largo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad18 Feb 2036
Miguel Hernández 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.
Match16 Feb 2036
Carlos Rivas scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Tacuarembo, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout18 Feb 2036
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout18 Feb 2036
Somebody else is better right now than Ignacio Perez
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Looking ahead18 Feb 2036
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Deportivo Maldonado in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout18 Feb 2036
Nobody at Cerro Largo 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Jan 2036
85 days out for Juan González after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cerro Largo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market14 Jan 2036
Artigas come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Cerro Largo did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market14 Jan 2036
Only the photograph left for David Cabrera
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. David Cabrera will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cerro Largo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad14 Jan 2036
Miguel Hernández 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.
Boardroom14 Jan 2036
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Christian Moreno has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Cerro Largo have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Transfer targets14 Jan 2036
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Caracas have kept their man, and Cerro Largo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Jan 2036
Words at Cerro Largo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Rivas 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 dugout14 Jan 2036
The manager makes an example of Ignacio Perez
“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.
Squad14 Jan 2036
Too much change too quickly at Cerro Largo
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Jan 2036
Juan González breaks a bone — 92 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 92 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad7 Jan 2036
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Cerro Largo will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Market7 Jan 2036
The phone has started ringing about Luis Meneses again, and this time the name on the line is Artigas. Cerro Largo are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad7 Jan 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 Cerro Largo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets7 Jan 2036
Cerro Largo offered $38.0K; Sud America said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Transfer targets7 Jan 2036
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.
Transfer targets7 Jan 2036
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Cerro Largo will try again when the window opens; Defensor Sporting may not be selling by then.
Squad7 Jan 2036
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout7 Jan 2036
Nobody at Cerro Largo 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Dec 2035
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Cerro Largo have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad10 Dec 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mauro Bonilla
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cerro Largo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad10 Dec 2035
120 days out for Juan González after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cerro Largo will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market10 Dec 2035
Kun puts it in writing
“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 Cerro Largo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets10 Dec 2035
The deal with Caracas 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.
Squad10 Dec 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cerro Largo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Dec 2035
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ignacio Perez and Cerro Largo agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets10 Dec 2035
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Brown de Adrogué have kept their man, and Cerro Largo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market10 Dec 2035
The phone has started ringing about Mauro Bonilla again, and this time the name on the line is Rocha. Cerro Largo are listening politely and promising nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Oct 2035
Miguel Hernández and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout8 Oct 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ignacio Perez, and the manager let it.
Squad8 Oct 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Juan González and Cerro Largo agree another 1 years.
Boardroom8 Oct 2035
102% of the income goes out in wages at Cerro Largo
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.
Loan watch8 Oct 2035
“I did not go to Deutscher FK to sit and watch. I want to come back to Cerro Largo and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 10 matches say the rest.
The dugout8 Oct 2035
When it matters, Blas Moyano plays
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.
The dugout8 Oct 2035
David Cabrera 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.
The dugout8 Oct 2035
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 Gonzalo Cabrera has written the date down.
Squad8 Oct 2035
“I will know when it is time. I am not there yet.” Nicolás Césaro is 35, with 89 appearances behind him, and Cerro Largo will have to plan for whichever answer comes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Sep 2035
Blas Moyano 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 Cerro Largo can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout17 Sep 2035
“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.
Squad17 Sep 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cerro Largo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout17 Sep 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gonzalo Cabrera, and the manager let it.
Market17 Sep 2035
Nothing to show for David Cabrera's season away
2 appearances, 0 clean sheets, and a goalkeeper no further forward than the day he left. Whether that belongs to him, to the club that borrowed him or to the people who arranged it is the argument Cerro Largo will have this month.
The dugout17 Sep 2035
Nobody at Cerro Largo 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 dugout17 Sep 2035
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Cerro Largo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market17 Sep 2035
The Luis Meneses story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Luis Meneses signs something — a contract at Cerro Largo or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market17 Sep 2035
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. David Cabrera may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match22 Aug 2035
Penarol ended it 0‑6. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
The terraces27 Aug 2035
Cerro Largo are taken apart by Penarol — and the town wants answers
It finished 0-6. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Squad27 Aug 2035
Dario Bordón 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 Cerro Largo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match22 Aug 2035
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Cerro Largo and Penarol, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Player ratings27 Aug 2035
Jhonier Hurtado did the work nobody counts — 6.94
12 combined actions and 6.94. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
The dugout27 Aug 2035
“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 Aug 2035
Whether it was the goalkeeper or the ten in front of him is the argument that will fill every conversation in town this week. 3 saves does not settle it either way.
Player ratings27 Aug 2035
Ignacio Perez ran the middle of the pitch — 7.00
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 7.00, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Boardroom27 Aug 2035
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
When it matters, Carlos Abeldaño plays
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The dugout
The form table has caught Luis Varela
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market30 Jul 2035
The deal that would have taken Luis Meneses to Artigas has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Cerro Largo with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad30 Jul 2035
Miguel Hernández 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.
Player ratings30 Jul 2035
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2035
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.
Squad30 Jul 2035
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
The dugout30 Jul 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dario Bordón, and the manager let it.
Player ratings30 Jul 2035
Marked 7.79 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Cerro Largo had the best player on the pitch.
Match28 Jul 2035
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout30 Jul 2035
Nicolás Sánchez has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Cerro Largo 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market9 Jul 2035
Juan Gallardo 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 Cerro Largo can pretend not to have heard.
Market9 Jul 2035
Add another name to the list: Artigas have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Luis Meneses. The answer from Cerro Largo has not changed — yet.
Squad9 Jul 2035
A move Ignacio Perez would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ignacio Perez is living that version at Cerro Largo, and it tends to show in the first month.
Market9 Jul 2035
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cerro Largo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad9 Jul 2035
Miguel Hernández 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.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2035
Cerro Largo asked and Penarol said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match7 Jul 2035
Three points for Cerro Largo, 1‑0 the final word against Racing in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings9 Jul 2035
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.10, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad9 Jul 2035
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ignacio Perez and Cerro Largo agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.