Marked for Marcelo Jiménez
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout27 Sep 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad27 Sep 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Giovanni Bogado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Kevin Pereira 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market20 Sep 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sportivo Luqueno is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Sportivo Luqueno training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giovanni Bogado 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.
Squad20 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 Sportivo Luqueno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market20 Sep 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Adrián Brizuela has his answer from Sportivo Luqueno; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“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 dugout20 Sep 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market9 Aug 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sportivo Luqueno is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout9 Aug 2027
“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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Giovanni Bogado 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.
Boardroom9 Aug 2027
The paperwork is done long before the player is. César Bobadilla has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Sportivo Luqueno have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ángel Espínola commits to Sportivo Luqueno for another 3 years.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fernando Benítez, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
Ángel Benítez has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sportivo Luqueno 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.
Market9 Aug 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Marcelo Jiménez has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Sportivo Luqueno.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Jun 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sportivo Luqueno can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Sportivo Luqueno have done the hard part with Nacional, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Market21 Jun 2027
The offer from River Plate for Ángel Espínola was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Giovanni Bogado 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.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Libertad wanted more than $290.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Market21 Jun 2027
General Diaz are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Sportivo Luqueno will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Sportivo Luqueno asked and San Martín SJ 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 dugout21 Jun 2027
“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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexis Villalba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Feb 2027
Giovanni Bogado 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 ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
One of those days for Iván Maggi
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.54, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
A performance of 8.04 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout22 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.” Miguel Valdez kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout22 Feb 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.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
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 Walter González is on it.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Marcelo Jiménez 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market11 Jan 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 Sportivo Luqueno, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Giovanni Bogado and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Gaspar Padilla arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Gaspar Padilla has, at Sportivo Luqueno, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Iván Maggi
“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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcelo Jiménez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad11 Jan 2027
The formation has left Gaspar Padilla behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Sportivo Luqueno will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
Tomás Muro gets picked when it counts
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 Tomás Muro is on it.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
The manager makes Oscar Ruiz a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Sportivo Luqueno. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market11 Jan 2027
A season-long look at somebody else’s player: Fabricio Bustos arrives from River Plate with something to prove and a return ticket in the drawer. Good loans make everybody richer; this one starts Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market30 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sportivo Luqueno is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market30 Nov 2026
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Lautaro Comas wants continental football; whether Sportivo Luqueno can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Giovanni Bogado 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
Iván Maggi gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcelo Jiménez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Marcelo Pérez gets picked when it counts
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 Marcelo Pérez is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market23 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sportivo Luqueno is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad23 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 Sportivo Luqueno this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Aldo Maiz has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sportivo Luqueno 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.