Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lucas Gaona. 1‑0 against Colón, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 18 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Temperley will try not to make too much of it.
Daniel Campos 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Interim Coach could afford to be generous.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Temperley can pretend not to have heard.
Juan Martínez 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 17-year-old it feels ownership of. Miguel Ángel Sosa has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Juan Martínez. 1‑0 against San Telmo, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Dock Sud.
Two goals and a mark of 8.97 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings11 Feb 2036
A brace, and Juan Martínez takes the afternoon — 8.40
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Juan Martínez provided it, and the 8.40 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Temperley can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Temperley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 18 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Temperley can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Jan 2036
Juan Martínez 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.
José Luis Arias 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hicham Mahrez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Temperley people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 Temperley, and it is not being withdrawn.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Gimnasia y Tiro moved on, Benjamín Varela reports back to Temperley, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. River Plate have kept their man, and Temperley go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Temperley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Temperley know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutLiam Suárez knocks on the manager’s door
Lucas Gaona 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.
Temperley and Vélez have settled on $520.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Temperley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Temperley asked and Tigre said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Temperley have made the call to Belgrano. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Juan Martínez 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.
Squad26 Nov 2035
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hicham Mahrez 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.
Máximo Blanco 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.
Squad22 Oct 2035
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Martínez 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Juan Manuel Gutiérrez has his answer from Temperley; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Temperley know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Temperley, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Temperley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Oct 2035
Hicham Mahrez 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.
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Temperley would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Temperley could ask drops and the wages Alexandru Mitrita can ask rise.
92 graduates, from a department now rated 4 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Temperley, another week without a signature from Alexandru Mitrita.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Hicham Mahrez did not need any: 7.97, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“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 Temperley, and it is not being withdrawn.
Máximo Blanco 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Bautista Ramos has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Temperley will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Máximo Blanco 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.
A 3‑2 win over Chacarita Juniors, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
At 16 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
8.26. 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.
The dugout9 Apr 2035
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.” Interim Coach, on a 3‑2 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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 hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Gustavo Alonso did not need any: 8.16, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Temperley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Daniel Campos has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“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 dugout19 Mar 2035
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.
Juan Martínez 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Benjamín Varela, and the manager let it.
Squad16 Oct 2034
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian De Luca 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.
Liam Suárez is 16, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lucas Gaona signs something — a contract at Temperley or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Temperley could ask drops and the wages Gustavo Gómez can ask rise.
35 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Player ratings9 Oct 2034
A brace, and Lucas Gaona takes the afternoon — 8.84
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lucas Gaona provided it, and the 8.84 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 16 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Liam Suárez did not need any: 7.93, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“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 Temperley, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gael Sosa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Temperley the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Temperley this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Words at Temperley training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Martínez 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.70 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 16 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.