Marked for Mario Risso
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets7 Dec 2026
Everything agreed with Tacuarembo, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets7 Dec 2026
Sud America offered $11.0K; Wanderers said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Transfer targets7 Dec 2026
Sud America asked and Cerrito said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout7 Dec 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.
Market7 Dec 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“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 Sud America will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Mateo Cantera 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 Mateo Cantera is on it.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
Open for business: Sud America enter the window
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Sud America. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
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 Sud America this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Franco Rofrano 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 dugout30 Nov 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Nov 2026
Gonzalo Sena 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.
The dugout16 Nov 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
Diego de Souza 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
Upbeat
Squad9 Nov 2026
Diego Cor 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Franco Rofrano 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Sud America know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Mateo Cantera 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 Mateo Cantera is on it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Mario Risso 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 Mario Risso trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market9 Nov 2026
Nobody sells a season ticket on a signing like this. Every manager who has been through a bad October wants one anyway, and Sud America have gone and got theirs early.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Jonathan Lima has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sud America 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 dugout2 Nov 2026
Mario Risso 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 Sud America, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad2 Nov 2026
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Oct 2026
Juan Muguerza and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mario Risso and Sud America agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Mateo Cantera has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sud America 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.