Marked for Joaquín Trasante
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market20 Sep 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 The request is on a desk at Tristán Suárez, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad20 Sep 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Tristán Suárez may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Defensive actions: 23, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Álvaro Veliez 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.
Match18 Sep 2027
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Match18 Sep 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Martín Álvarez. 1‑0 against Almagro, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Marked 8.49 — 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 ratings20 Sep 2027
Defensive actions: 19. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market13 Sep 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.
Squad13 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 Tristán Suárez this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.34, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match11 Sep 2027
A 1‑1 draw with San Miguel leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Boardroom13 Sep 2027
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Tristán Suárez now.
Squad13 Sep 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Tristán Suárez, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad13 Sep 2027
“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.
Market13 Sep 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Nicolás Fernández’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 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.
Squad28 Dec 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 Tristán Suárez this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 514% of everything Tristán Suárez earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market30 Nov 2026
Diego Becker 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 Tristán Suárez can pretend not to have heard.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Mateo Bustamante: 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.” Tristán Suárez have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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 Tristán Suárez this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 682% of everything Tristán Suárez earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Joaquín Trasante, and the manager let it.
Market30 Nov 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Nicolás Fernández may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
Álvaro Veliez 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.
Squad23 Nov 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Joaquín Trasante trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 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 Tristán Suárez this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
The medical room confirms 16 days on the sidelines for Joaquín Trasante, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad16 Nov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Oct 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Joaquín Trasante: 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.” Tristán Suárez have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Álvaro Veliez 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.