Marked for Iván Arboleda
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom8 Nov 2027
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 6.89 for the rest of it.
Market8 Nov 2027
Agustín Seyral has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sarmiento they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom8 Nov 2027
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Juan López has agreed terms with UAI Urquiza for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Sarmiento
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mauricio Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match6 Nov 2027
Santiago Salle scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Huracán, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Carlos Villalba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Liam Gómez to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
Iván Arboleda gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Iván Arboleda is on it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom1 Nov 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Sarmiento
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Sarmiento is running low.
Market1 Nov 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sarmiento can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Mauricio 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.
Match30 Oct 2027
1‑3 to River Plate, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad1 Nov 2027
The medical room confirms 42 days on the sidelines for Nicolás Filippa, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad1 Nov 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sarmiento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
Iván Arboleda 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Oct 2027
Jonathan Herrera damages knee ligaments — 26 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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.
Match18 Oct 2027
Every point is an argument now for Sarmiento
Position 13 and 9 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Sarmiento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mauricio 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 dugout18 Oct 2027
“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.
Match16 Oct 2027
A bad afternoon for Sarmiento against Tigre
0‑2 to Tigre, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at Sarmiento
Carlos Villalba 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.
Loan watch18 Oct 2027
35 appearances away from home and 11 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
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 0‑2 Liam Gómez left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Oct 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jonathan Herrera
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sarmiento lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
Pressure builds in the Sarmiento boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mauricio Martínez and Sarmiento agree another 2 years.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Thiago Santamaría 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Juan Manuel Cabrera and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
7.91, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Sarmiento had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
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 dugout4 Oct 2027
Liam Gómez: “We have to be better”
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Sep 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jonathan Herrera
57 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sarmiento lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match18 Sep 2027
13 matches without a win for Sarmiento
The run now stands at 13, and the questions being asked around Sarmiento are no longer polite ones.
Squad20 Sep 2027
There were 7 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Agustín San Juan is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Mauricio 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.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
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.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Sarmiento told Matheus Martins something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Loan watch20 Sep 2027
32 appearances at Gimnasia y Esgrima and the goals keep coming. Sarmiento are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Liam Gómez chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Sep 2027
64 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sarmiento lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match11 Sep 2027
No end in sight to Sarmiento's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sarmiento has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Up for the corner, and Alexis Castro delivers — 7.71
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Alexis Castro scored, was marked 7.71, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Thiago Santamaría 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 dugout13 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Iván Arboleda
“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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Carlos Villalba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad6 Sep 2027
71 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sarmiento lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Sarmiento
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Mauricio 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sarmiento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
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 dugout6 Sep 2027
Julián Mavilla knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sarmiento, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Looking ahead6 Sep 2027
The leaders are next for Sarmiento
Gimnasia La Plata top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Julián Mavilla has moved up it.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Nicolás Juárez
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Aug 2027
92 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sarmiento lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match14 Aug 2027
No end in sight to Sarmiento's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sarmiento has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad16 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Sarmiento
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mauricio Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match14 Aug 2027
Level with 90 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Sarmiento had all but put away. Aldosivi will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Matías Rosales and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
The afternoon belonged to Pablo Magnín
A mark of 7.70, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Match14 Aug 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Aldosivi leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Liam Gómez after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Squad16 Aug 2027
One yellow too many, and a match watched from the stand. The most avoidable absence in football, and Sarmiento will feel it on Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Aug 2027
Jonathan Herrera damages knee ligaments — 100 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 100 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.
Match7 Aug 2027
The wait goes on for Sarmiento
8 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.
Match7 Aug 2027
The goals have deserted Sarmiento
8 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Sarmiento can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Mauricio 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.
The terraces9 Aug 2027
He is 23 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sarmiento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Sarmiento will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.20 on the card, and the Sarmiento support went home talking about one name.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
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
Squad2 Aug 2027
Jonathan Herrera damages knee ligaments — 109 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 109 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match31 Jul 2027
7 matches without a win for Sarmiento
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Sarmiento are no longer polite ones.
Match31 Jul 2027
7 matches without a goal for Sarmiento
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 7 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Market2 Aug 2027
“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.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market2 Aug 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Sarmiento have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad2 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Sarmiento
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thiago Santamaría was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. River Plate have kept their man, and Sarmiento go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Jul 2027
134 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sarmiento lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market12 Jul 2027
Aldosivi come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Sarmiento did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market12 Jul 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sarmiento can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sarmiento may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Sarmiento have done the hard part with Botafogo, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
No deal for Julián Vivas at that price
Sarmiento offered $180.0K; Fénix 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Thiago Santamaría 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Manuel García and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Sarmiento asked and Talleres said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Jun 2027
The small margins put Sarmiento out
Out, 0‑1 to Platense, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Market14 Jun 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Sarmiento have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Match9 Jun 2027
The wait goes on for Sarmiento
5 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
José Tomino 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 Sarmiento can pretend not to have heard.
Match9 Jun 2027
The goals have deserted Sarmiento
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Sarmiento can tell you which week it ends in.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
The deal with Atlético Mineiro 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Sarmiento
Elián 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Sarmiento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mauricio 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.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Racing Club have kept their man, and Sarmiento go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Jun 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sarmiento is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market7 Jun 2027
“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 Sarmiento, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Elián Giménez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Mauricio 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.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Sarmiento asked and Lanús said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to Racing Club: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Sarmiento have made the call to Talleres. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
Elián Giménez 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 dugout7 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Renzo Orihuela
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 May 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 22 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad24 May 2027
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.
The dugout24 May 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sarmiento may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match22 May 2027
The wait goes on for Sarmiento
4 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.
Match22 May 2027
The goals have deserted Sarmiento
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Sarmiento can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad24 May 2027
Elián Giménez 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Sarmiento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mauricio 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.
Match22 May 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout24 May 2027
Santiago Salle 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
Steady
Squad17 May 2027
30 days out for Cristian Zabala after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sarmiento will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market17 May 2027
“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.
Squad17 May 2027
Mauricio 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.
Squad17 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sarmiento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match15 May 2027
The goals have deserted Sarmiento
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Sarmiento can tell you which week it ends in.
The dugout17 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Adrián Balboa
“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.
Match15 May 2027
River Plate left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout17 May 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 May 2027
A fracture rules Cristian Zabala out for 38 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sarmiento will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market10 May 2027
Elián Giménez has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sarmiento they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad10 May 2027
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.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Sarmiento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thiago Santamaría 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Words exchanged at Sarmiento
Yair Arismendi 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.
Match8 May 2027
0‑2 to Atlético Tucumán, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout10 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Elián Giménez
“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 May 2027
Adrián Balboa ran the middle of the pitch — 6.58
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 6.58, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The dugout10 May 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Apr 2027
A fracture rules Cristian Zabala out for 60 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sarmiento will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Up for the corner, and Manuel García delivers — 7.93
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Manuel García scored, was marked 7.93, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Market19 Apr 2027
“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 Sarmiento, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Elián Giménez 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Sarmiento
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thiago Santamaría was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces19 Apr 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Elián Giménez 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.
Match17 Apr 2027
Maipú made Sarmiento work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Liam Gómez on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Apr 2027
75 days out for Cristian Zabala after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sarmiento will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Elián Giménez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Ulises Giménez is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Sarmiento
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mauricio Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match3 Apr 2027
Gimnasia La Plata left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexis Castro, and the manager let it.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Manuel García was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.17. 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 dugout5 Apr 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Mar 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 90 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.27 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Agustín San Juan is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Sarmiento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mauricio 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 terraces22 Mar 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Matías Rosales 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.
Match20 Mar 2027
Racing Club made Sarmiento work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Liam Gómez on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Mar 2027
Sarmiento say no — this time
The offer from Rotor for Elián Giménez 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Sarmiento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mauricio 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sarmiento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Brandon Márquez and Sarmiento agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.74 on the card, and the Sarmiento support went home talking about one name.
Match27 Feb 2027
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Feb 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Sarmiento
Alexis Castro 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Sarmiento
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mauricio Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match20 Feb 2027
1‑2 to Argentinos Juniors, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Manuel Mónaco
“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 dugout22 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Liam Gómez to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Iván Arboleda gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Iván Arboleda is on it.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Yair Arismendi 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 Yair Arismendi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Jan 2027
The knee: Pedro Castro out for 19 days
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sarmiento lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market25 Jan 2027
Only the photograph left for Elián Giménez
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Elián Giménez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sarmiento the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Carlos Villalba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Sarmiento training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thiago Santamaría 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 dugout25 Jan 2027
Iván Arboleda has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sarmiento 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Sarmiento will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Market25 Jan 2027
The name of Yair Arismendi keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Sarmiento say nothing, which says plenty.
Loan watch25 Jan 2027
The goals keep arriving from Benjamín Borasi’s exile
4 goals in 14 games at Náutico — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Sarmiento updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Dec 2026
“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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Sarmiento
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mauricio Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Carlos Villalba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jonathan Herrera, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets28 Dec 2026
Internacional have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
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 dugout28 Dec 2026
Manuel García 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 dugout28 Dec 2026
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 Carlos Villalba has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sarmiento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Sarmiento
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mauricio Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Iván Arboleda has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sarmiento 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
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 Carlos Villalba has written the date down.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Elián Giménez 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 Elián Giménez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market30 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Cristian Zabala’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Oct 2026
Chastening afternoon for Sarmiento
A 1‑4 beating by Racing Club was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Tiziano Delias: 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.” Sarmiento have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Sarmiento
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mauricio Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Carlos Villalba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Carlos Villalba
“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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Sarmiento dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑4, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Joel Godoy makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Iván Arboleda gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Iván Arboleda is on it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market26 Oct 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sarmiento can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Junior Marabel 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Sarmiento
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mauricio Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Iván Arboleda
“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 dugout26 Oct 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Sarmiento told Gastón González something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at Sarmiento
19 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
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 Liam Gómez left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market19 Oct 2026
Manuel García 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 Sarmiento can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sarmiento may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Sarmiento
Junior Marabel 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Matías Rosales is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Mauricio 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.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Aldosivi left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Liam Gómez after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sarmiento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Mauricio 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.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Junior Marabel, and the manager let it.
Match3 Oct 2026
5 matches without a win, and then this, against Tigre. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Match3 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Cristian Zabala’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Sarmiento.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.11 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Market5 Oct 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Yair Arismendi has his answer from Sarmiento; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad5 Oct 2026
29 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Manuel García: 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.” Sarmiento have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match26 Sep 2026
5 matches without a win for Sarmiento
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Sarmiento are no longer polite ones.
Squad28 Sep 2026
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Sarmiento
Carlos Villalba 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
3 matches without a goal for Sarmiento
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Manuel Mónaco, and the manager let it.
Market28 Sep 2026
Manuel García is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Sarmiento has been clear about where Manuel García stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad28 Sep 2026
19 new faces, and Sarmiento are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Sep 2026
0‑3 to Belgrano, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Match12 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Sarmiento
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Sarmiento are no longer polite ones.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Sarmiento
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Manuel Insaurralde was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad14 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sarmiento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jonathan Herrera, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
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.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Liam Gómez after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Gastón Arturia
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Sarmiento
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Manuel Insaurralde was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sarmiento this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Nicolás Pasquini has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Julián Contrera, and the manager let it.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Iván Arboleda has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sarmiento 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 dugout7 Sep 2026
Gastón González 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Sarmiento than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Looking ahead7 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Belgrano in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Aug 2026
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Iván Arboleda: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match26 Aug 2026
The cup run ends for Sarmiento
1‑1 against Banfield, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Match29 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑3 by Huracán, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Sarmiento
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mauricio Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Sarmiento
Carlos Villalba 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 ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“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.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
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
-
Player ratings
From twelve yards, and Matías Rosales misses
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Squad
20 new faces, and Sarmiento are still learning each other
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Aug 2026
Sarmiento through in the cup
A 1‑0 win over Deportivo Armenio, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 8.27 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Sarmiento
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Manuel Insaurralde was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Carlos Villalba 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 terraces24 Aug 2026
At 21 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
0‑2 to River Plate, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Diego Churín 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.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Aug 2026
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Carlos Villalba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“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.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Sarmiento dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Mauricio Martínez’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Sarmiento
27 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 dugout3 Aug 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.