Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tacuary will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The deal that would have taken Walter Martínez to Tembetary has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Tacuary with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Alexis Rojas 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 Jul 2028
Words at Tacuary training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustavo Manzur 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.
Tacuary ran out of time with Sol de America. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tacuary will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Tacuary have gone to Olimpia with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
$1.3M on the table at Cerro Porteno. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Tacuary have done the hard part with River Plate, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Alexis Rojas 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.
Marked 9.60 — 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 114 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Tacuary people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Tacuary have done the hard part with Sol de America, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Tacuary have gone to Libertad with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 121 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tacuary can pretend not to have heard.
Tacuary asked and Cerro Porteno said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tacuary this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
1‑3 to Nacional, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Mario Barrios 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tacuary can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tacuary this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Tacuary training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustavo Manzur 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Tacuary is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
It needed Gustavo Manzur to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against 2 de Mayo, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout22 May 2028
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.” Diego Cardozo chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
2‑1 against Sportivo Trinidense, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
9 matches without a win, and then this, against Sportivo Trinidense. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Diego Cardozo could afford to be generous.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tacuary this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Tacuary training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mario Barrios 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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Oscar Peralta commits to Tacuary for another 4 years.
The dugout8 May 2028
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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Diego Cardozo to a room that had heard them before.
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 Aldo González is on it.
7 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gustavo Manzur was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 dugout1 May 2028
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 0‑1 Diego Cardozo left the room before anybody could ask which.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Fernando Rolón is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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 Tacuary, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Tacuary is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tacuary can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tacuary this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Tacuary training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco 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.
Nobody at Tacuary 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 Héctor Lezcano trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Aldo González’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Tacuary needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Tacuary. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
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.
David Fleitas 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.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
David Fleitas was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.20. 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.
A point taken on 85 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Héctor Lezcano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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 dugout21 Feb 2028
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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Diego Cardozo to a room that had heard them before.
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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Luis Franco has his answer from Tacuary; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tacuary lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Alexis Rojas 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Franco Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 7.03 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Cerro Porteno scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
The words a physio says slowly. 35 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.
David Fleitas 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 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.
In brief
The dugoutAldo González has become a man the manager trusts
58 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tacuary lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Víctor Barrios 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.
Tacuary offered $16.0K; Resistencia 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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Tacuary training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco 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.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until David Fleitas signs something — a contract at Tacuary or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 79 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Tacuary will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Tacuary, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. José Ojeda is living that version at Tacuary, and it tends to show in the first month.
The offer went to Nacional this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Tacuary offered $28.0K; River Plate 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.
Deportivo Santani will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Franco Martínez has pre-agreed a move to Tacuary, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
88 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tacuary lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tacuary will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tacuary can pretend not to have heard.
David Fleitas 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.
$28.0K on the table at River Plate. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Tacuary have gone to River Plate with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Cerro Porteno paid $49.0K and Tacuary took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Tacuary asked and Independiente 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 words a physio says slowly. 130 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.
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 Tacuary 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until David Fleitas signs something — a contract at Tacuary or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
David Fleitas 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.
Nobody at Tacuary 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexis Rojas signs something — a contract at Tacuary or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Julio González 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Héctor Lezcano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Aldo González is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and David Fleitas trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Tacuary, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until David Fleitas signs something — a contract at Tacuary or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Christian Cepeda may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Teo González are not good
Julio González 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Teo González has just signed for Tacuary, and for once the answer mattered.
Everybody at Tacuary saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Teo González is 20, and Tacuary have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martín Espinoza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
At 36, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Nobody at Tacuary 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until David Fleitas signs something — a contract at Tacuary or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tacuary can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tacuary this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Tacuary training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Héctor Lezcano 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Fernando Rolón 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.
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 Gustavo Manzur is on it.
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 Mario Barrios is on it.
In brief
The dugoutHéctor Lezcano asks for a word with the manager
Julio González 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Tacuary training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Héctor Lezcano 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ramon Acosta is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Tacuary will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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 Aldo González is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Tacuary, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Julio González and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Tacuary training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Héctor Lezcano 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.
Nobody at Tacuary 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Tacuary, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until David Fleitas signs something — a contract at Tacuary or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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 Tacuary, and it is not being withdrawn.
$17.0K on the table at River Plate. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olimpia have kept their man, and Tacuary go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Tacuary, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Julio González and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Aldo González 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Libertad have kept their man, and Tacuary go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 34 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Tacuary is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Tacuary pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
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.
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Tacuary are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
A brace, and David Fleitas takes the afternoon — 8.76
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. David Fleitas provided it, and the 8.76 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tacuary can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tacuary this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Tacuary training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aldo González 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.
Tacuary asked and San Lorenzo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Tacuary has been clear about where Hugo Flores stands, which is more than many ever get.
Minute 90, against Nacional, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
The words a physio says slowly. 31 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.
“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 Tacuary, and it is not being withdrawn.
Julio González and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Tacuary training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aldo González 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.
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
Julio González 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Tacuary training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aldo González 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Fernando Gamarra has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for David Fleitas
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tacuary lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Position 6, 16 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Level with 88 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Tacuary had all but put away. Guarani will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Nobody at Tacuary 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 words a physio says slowly. 22 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.
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.
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.
Successful dribbles: 14. 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 shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tacuary lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tacuary this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Tacuary 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Martín Espinoza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Tacuary is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
The words a physio says slowly. 37 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.
Julio González 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Christian Martínez and Tacuary agree another 2 years.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: David Fleitas. 1‑0 against Sportivo Trinidense, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
7.88, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Tacuary had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Diego Cardozo kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
73 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tacuary lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tacuary this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Aldo González 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Augusto Giménez, and the manager let it.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Diego Cardozo, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Nobody at Tacuary 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.
87 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tacuary lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Tacuary scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Julio González 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Tacuary training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Héctor Lezcano 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.
A mark of 7.68, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Diego Cardozo kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
94 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tacuary lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tacuary will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
A new deal for the man in the dugout, and the clearest thing a board can say without calling a press conference about it. Stability is cheap to promise and expensive to deliver.
Julio González 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.
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 Víctor Barrios is on it.
101 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tacuary lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tacuary will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Tacuary, 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 Tacuary this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Tacuary, another week without a signature from Julio González.
“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.
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 Kevin Lezcano is on it.
108 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tacuary lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tacuary will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The deal with Colón 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.
Alexis Rojas 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 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.
49 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tacuary lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Tacuary will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tacuary this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Francisco Mongelos has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Tacuary have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Tacuary training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Héctor Lezcano 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Libertad have kept their man, and Tacuary go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Tacuary have made the call to Sol de America. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tacuary will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tacuary this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
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 Kevin Lezcano is on it.
Carlos Servín 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.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Tacuary will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
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 Víctor Barrios is on it.
Gary Tello is 33 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Tacuary know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Luis Franco has written the date down.
Alexis Rojas 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 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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 34 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
23 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Nobody at Tacuary 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Héctor Lezcano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Carlos Servín 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.
Nobody at Tacuary 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.
3 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.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Alexis Rojas 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Hugo Acosta is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: David Fleitas. 1‑0 against 12 de Junio, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
22 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.
Successful dribbles: 47. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A brace, and David Fleitas takes the afternoon — 8.95
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. David Fleitas provided it, and the 8.95 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Tacuary training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Héctor Lezcano 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.
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 Aldo González is on it.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.