“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 The request is on a desk at Argentinos Juniors, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nicolás Oroz 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 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.
12 goals in 15 games at Colo-Colo — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Argentinos Juniors updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hernán López Muñoz trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
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 Javier Cabrera is on it.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
Nicolás Oroz 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hernán López Muñoz 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 easiest signature of my career.” Facundo Carrizo and Argentinos Juniors agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“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.
Nicolás Oroz 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 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Facundo Jainikoski and Argentinos Juniors agree another 5 years.
The dugout22 Mar 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 Enzo Campos to a room that had heard them before.
“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 Argentinos Juniors, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Argentinos Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joaquín Gho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Gastón Verón was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.46. 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.
8.18. 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.
Erik Godoy 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 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 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Argentinos Juniors, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
“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 Argentinos Juniors, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Gho 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.
Erik Godoy 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sebastián Prieto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Argentinos Juniors 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Emiliano Viveros trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Argentinos Juniors know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Argentinos Juniors have no good answer.
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.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Argentinos Juniors have had the benefit of it.
Erik Godoy 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.
9 appearances at Defensores and the goals keep coming. Argentinos Juniors are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Joaquín Gho 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.
Nobody at Argentinos Juniors 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. Argentinos Juniors know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Estudiantes did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $1.3M for Agustín Lastra, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Erik Godoy 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.
Add another name to the list: Belgrano have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Gastón Verón. The answer from Argentinos Juniors has not changed — yet.
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.
Chacarita Juniors will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Miguel Mellado has pre-agreed a move to Argentinos Juniors, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Argentinos Juniors will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Erik Godoy 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hernán López Muñoz 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.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Argentinos Juniors know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Argentinos Juniors. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Gonzalo Siri are not good
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Argentinos Juniors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hernán López Muñoz 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 award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Argentinos Juniors have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
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 Jeremías Correale is on it.
5 goals in 6 games at Colo-Colo — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Argentinos Juniors updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Argentinos Juniors, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Erik Godoy 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 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.
A point taken on 90 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Gastón Verón was the best thing in any of them.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Fernando Meza
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.
Erik Godoy 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 ratings19 Oct 2026
Gastón Verón was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.31. 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.
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.
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.
Position 14 and 8 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.
Hernán López Muñoz 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.
15 goals in 9 games at Defensores — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Argentinos Juniors updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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 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.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Fernando Meza
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Argentinos Juniors will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Hernán López Muñoz 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gaspar Agulles 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.
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Tomás Molina was the best thing in any of them.
In brief
The dugoutSamir Mohamed dropped after a run of poor form
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Argentinos Juniors will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Racing ended it 3‑4. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A brace, and Tomás Molina takes the afternoon — 9.24
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tomás Molina provided it, and the 9.24 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Two goals and a mark of 8.50 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jeremías Correale did not need any: 8.02, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Hernán López Muñoz 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.
7 goals in one match, Javier Cabrera on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Argentinos Juniors and Racing.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Mancuello 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.