Marked for Jonathan Roa
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Apr 2027
8 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.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
A defender's afternoon for Wílder Viera
Defensive actions: 29. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad26 Apr 2027
The medical room confirms 17 days on the sidelines for Jonathan Roa, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Guillermo Coronel 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 ratings26 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
A defender's afternoon for Juan Ojeda
Defensive actions: 17. 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
Crisis
Match20 Mar 2027
Chastening afternoon for General Diaz
A 0‑4 beating by River Plate was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match22 Mar 2027
Every point is an argument now for General Diaz
Position 12 and 1 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.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Juan Ojeda 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jonathan Roa, and the manager let it.
Boardroom22 Mar 2027
Nobody left the General Diaz dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad22 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Fernando Sanguinetti and General Diaz agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Luis Torres 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 Luis Torres trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Shots: 7, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market22 Feb 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 General Diaz, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” General Diaz may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match20 Feb 2027
4 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Juan Ojeda 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jonathan Roa, and the manager let it.
Match20 Feb 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Feb 2027
Juan Ojeda in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at General Diaz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Feb 2027
The penny has dropped for Luis Núñez
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at General Diaz the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Squad1 Feb 2027
The manager plants his flag on Jonathan Roa
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Jonathan Roa’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
Juan Ojeda 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
177% of the income goes out in wages at General Diaz
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The penny has dropped for Jonathan Roa
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at General Diaz the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
Juan Ojeda in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at General Diaz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market28 Sep 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Diego Betancourth may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Squad28 Sep 2026
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
153% of the income goes out in wages at General Diaz
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
General Diaz will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
Squad7 Sep 2026
It is a strip of cloth and it decides nothing on a Saturday. It still tells the dressing room exactly whose opinion the manager values, which is the whole point of it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Aug 2026
Sportivo Luqueno go through and General Diaz go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Juan Ojeda in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at General Diaz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.