Marked for Emilio Crespo
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Oct 2028
Lucas Goberville: 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.” Fenix have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad30 Oct 2028
82 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad30 Oct 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fenix this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market4 Sep 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Fenix, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Sep 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Fenix may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Tempers go at Fenix
Bryan Olivera 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.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Marked 9.28 — 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sebastián de Marco, and the manager let it.
Match2 Sep 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Guillermo Pereira. 1‑0 against Miramar Misiones, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
One of those days for Alex Verón
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.11, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Axel Pérez is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.25 with 7 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Aug 2028
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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Tempers go at Fenix
Bryan Olivera 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.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Defensive actions: 19. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Defensive actions: 19, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Marked 8.13 — 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Nahuel Suárez will call it something else in private.
Squad7 Aug 2028
7 goals and a season average of 7.26. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings10 Jul 2028
Defensive actions: 30, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad10 Jul 2028
“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.
Market10 Jul 2028
“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.
Match8 Jul 2028
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad10 Jul 2028
A season average of 7.33 with 18 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Market10 Jul 2028
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Fenix moved on, Maximiliano Burruzo reports back to River Plate, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Market10 Jul 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at River Plate is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad10 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at River Plate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings10 Jul 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 21 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match10 Jun 2028
5 matches without a win for River Plate
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around River Plate are no longer polite ones.
Market12 Jun 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at River Plate is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Camilo Cándido 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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” José Arbío and River Plate agree another 3 years.
Squad12 Jun 2028
A season average of 7.20 with 14 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Market12 Jun 2028
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Camilo Cándido has his answer from River Plate; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Player ratings12 Jun 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.67, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings12 Jun 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.19, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings12 Jun 2028
A performance of 8.13 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 May 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what River Plate can pretend not to have heard.
Market15 May 2028
Only the photograph left for Emilio Crespo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Emilio Crespo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around River Plate the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad15 May 2028
Camilo Cándido 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.
Match13 May 2028
It finished 2‑1, and it was Sebastián da Silva’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to River Plate.
Player ratings15 May 2028
Marked 8.77 — 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.
Squad15 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Diego Sánchez, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Apr 2028
Emilio Crespo has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around River Plate they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Camilo Cándido 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.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
Marked 8.50 — 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
The manager makes an example of Vitinho
“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 Apr 2028
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market13 Mar 2028
“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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
A one-man rearguard from José Arbío
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.
Match11 Mar 2028
No end in sight to River Plate's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at River Plate has to find a result from somewhere.
Market13 Mar 2028
Only the photograph left for Emilio Crespo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Emilio Crespo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around River Plate the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Carlos Rodríguez 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.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad13 Mar 2028
“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.
Match11 Mar 2028
Danubio left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Shots: 10. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Feb 2028
Only the photograph left for Emilio Crespo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Emilio Crespo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around River Plate the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad14 Feb 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at River Plate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market14 Feb 2028
As if he never left: Matias Nunez returns
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Matias Nunez is a River Plate player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Market14 Feb 2028
The shirt still fits. Fernando Caceres is back at River Plate, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Market14 Feb 2028
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Fernando Hernandez is a River Plate player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Match12 Feb 2028
A 3‑1 win over Cerrito, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Boardroom14 Feb 2028
Still no name above the door at River Plate
Day 13 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Marked 8.77 — 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.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.52, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 Nov 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at River Plate is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad22 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 River Plate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch22 Nov 2027
“I watch every River Plate game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Miramar Misiones runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
Alejandro 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.” River Plate have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Carlos Rodríguez 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Lautaro Pertusatti commits to River Plate for another 3 years.