Marked for Russo
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 May 2035
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Gimnasia y Esgrima may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match26 May 2035
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Gimnasia y Esgrima are no longer polite ones.
Squad28 May 2035
Giuliano Peralta 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.
Squad28 May 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.
Match26 May 2035
It needed Emiliano Zambrano to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Central Norte, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings28 May 2035
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
In brief
-
Squad
Valentín Benítez has become a man the manager trusts
-
Market
The shop window has Russo in it
-
Player ratings
The referee tires of Gallito
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings30 Apr 2035
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad30 Apr 2035
Giuliano Peralta 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.
Match28 Apr 2035
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings9 Apr 2035
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market9 Apr 2035
“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.
Squad9 Apr 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 Gimnasia y Esgrima this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Apr 2035
“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.
Squad9 Apr 2035
Noah Vázquez 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.
Match7 Apr 2035
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Defensores defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Mar 2035
Madryn ended it 0‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad12 Mar 2035
There were 8 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.
Squad12 Mar 2035
Noah Vázquez: 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.” Gimnasia y Esgrima have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market12 Mar 2035
“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.
Squad12 Mar 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 Gimnasia y Esgrima this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match10 Mar 2035
Almirante Brown left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings12 Mar 2035
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.
Squad12 Mar 2035
Noah Vázquez 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.
Market12 Mar 2035
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Emiliano Zambrano’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Feb 2035
14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Gimnasia y Esgrima has to find a result from somewhere.
Match24 Feb 2035
1‑7 against Atlanta, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market26 Feb 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 Gimnasia y Esgrima can pretend not to have heard.
Squad26 Feb 2035
A long afternoon for Pulga
Beaten 7 times, with 2 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
Squad26 Feb 2035
The manager makes an example of Gustavo Suárez
“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.
Boardroom26 Feb 2035
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad26 Feb 2035
Noah Vázquez 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.
Squad26 Feb 2035
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Feb 2035
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Gimnasia y Esgrima has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad12 Feb 2035
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market12 Feb 2035
Russo 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 Gimnasia y Esgrima can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Feb 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 Gimnasia y Esgrima this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match10 Feb 2035
2‑4 to Defensores Unidos, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad12 Feb 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giuliano Peralta, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Feb 2035
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Liam Ibáñez commits to Gimnasia y Esgrima for another 3 years.
Market12 Feb 2035
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Emiliano Zambrano’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match3 Feb 2035
11 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market5 Feb 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 Gimnasia y Esgrima can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Feb 2035
Giuliano Peralta 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.
Boardroom5 Feb 2035
9 academy players handed senior numbers at Gimnasia y Esgrima
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad5 Feb 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Valentín Benítez and Gimnasia y Esgrima agree another 3 years.
Market5 Feb 2035
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Benjamín Iglesias 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.
Market5 Feb 2035
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Juan Martín Castro is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market5 Feb 2035
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Russo 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.
Player ratings5 Feb 2035
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.