51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Juventud lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Juventud will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Nobody at Juventud 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Juventud will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 The request is on a desk at Juventud, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rafael Pereira will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Juventud the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Pablo Fernandez signs something — a contract at Juventud or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Juventud, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Juventud will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Jose Martinez is 19, and Juventud have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Nobody at Juventud 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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Juventud will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“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 Juventud, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nobody at Juventud 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Juventud is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Nobody at Juventud 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Juventud know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody at Juventud 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Juventud, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Juventud 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.
Nobody at Juventud 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.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Juventud that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Juventud that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Rafael Pereira’s negotiating for him
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Juventud lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Nobody at Juventud 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.
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Juventud lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Juventud have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
57 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Juventud lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad15 Aug 2050
Getting past Kevin Rossi has become the hardest job in the division
16 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Diego Araujo. 2‑0 against Cerro Largo, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Juventud will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Diego Araujo at his very best
The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.
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 words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
The offer from Colon for Diego Ramirez was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad18 Jul 2050
Getting past Kevin Rossi has become the hardest job in the division
14 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
At 22 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.
20 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
106 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Juventud lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
15 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
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.
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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Oriental? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Juventud lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Juventud will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 17 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
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.
57 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Juventud lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
1 for Facundo Rossi, marked 7.73, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Marked 8.59 — 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.
16 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
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 words a physio says slowly. 71 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.
6 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.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The words a physio says slowly. 92 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.
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.
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 words a physio says slowly. 106 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.
At 22 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.
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.
14 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
The words a physio says slowly. 127 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Cristian Pellistri has come out of that comparison in the side, and Juventud have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ivan Aguirre has his answer from Juventud; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Wanderers defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kevin Rossi signs something — a contract at Juventud or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
At 18 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gaston Cardozo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Juventud the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 17 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
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.
At 18 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
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 crowd waited for a goal that never came. Defensor Sporting defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Juventud will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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. Juventud will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Juventud will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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 words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Juventud will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The words a physio says slowly. 56 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Juventud will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
84 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Juventud lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 114 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Position 2, 48 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
112 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Juventud lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
119 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Juventud lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alvaro Barrios did not need any: 7.60, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The phone has started ringing about Kevin Rossi again, and this time the name on the line is WaiBOP United. Juventud are listening politely and promising nothing.
126 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Juventud lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
17 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Defensor Sporting go through and Juventud go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
7.71, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
133 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Juventud lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match24 Jul 2049
Diego Araujo wins it after the whistle should have gone
90 minutes played. Diego Araujo found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Rampla Juniors went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Kevin Rossi 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.
140 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Juventud lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Juventud have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Juventud will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
14 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
147 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Juventud lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
16 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Juventud have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
154 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Juventud lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
13 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.
Squad5 Jul 2049
Kevin Rossi is the division's best young player this month
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Juventud will try very hard not to make too much of it.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Cerrito? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
79 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Juventud lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
15 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Two goals and a mark of 8.06 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Nobody at Juventud 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.
86 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Juventud lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 3, 34 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Player ratings21 Jun 2049
Gaston Ramirez, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.64
A mark of 7.64 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jose Diaz. 1‑0 against Artigas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
93 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Juventud lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 8.77 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
14 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.03, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Kevin Rossi 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.
100 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Juventud lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 6.52, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad7 Jun 2049
Getting past Kevin Rossi has become the hardest job in the division
9 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Jorge Olivera is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Nobody at Juventud 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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Deportivo Maldonado? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
12 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
114 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Juventud lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A 2‑1 win over Racing, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match19 May 2049
Rafael Pereira wins it after the whistle should have gone
99 minutes played. Rafael Pereira found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Racing went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jose Diaz. 1‑0 against Colon, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Juventud lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Pablo Fernandez provided it, and the 8.81 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Kevin Rossi 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.
The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Juventud who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
60 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Juventud lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Rampla Juniors will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Juventud were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
81 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Juventud lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 9.13 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Position 3, 14 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Juventud and Cerrito, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Rodrigo Diaz 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.
Marked 8.33 — 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.
In brief
Player ratingsDiego Araujo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
88 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Juventud lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Pablo Fernandez provided it, and the 8.87 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
95 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Juventud lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Juventud scored in the 95th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Marked 6.84 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
At 23 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.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.