It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 12 de Octubre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Justo Roa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Aldo Torres has written the date down.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
16 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at 12 de Octubre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Justo Roa 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 12 de Octubre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olimpia have kept their man, and 12 de Octubre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around 12 de Octubre they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Nery Bareiro 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.
Nobody at 12 de Octubre 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.
In brief
SquadJosé Benítez falls out with a teammate over standards
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around 12 de Octubre they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
12 de Octubre asked and Colón 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. 12 de Octubre will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at 12 de Octubre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Justo Roa 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 will play as long as the body lets me and stop the day it does not.” He is 34, with 94 appearances behind him, and the club has to plan for a decision that is not yet made.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at 12 de Octubre, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. 12 de Octubre have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 12 de Octubre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Reggiana have kept their man, and 12 de Octubre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Words at 12 de Octubre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexis Estupiñán 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Aldo Torres trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
12 de Octubre spent the window trying to move Nery Bareiro on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around 12 de Octubre people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Nery Bareiro 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.
12 de Octubre 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.
A loan enquiry to Tristán Suárez: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
12 de Octubre have made the call to Reggiana. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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.
Something was said to Gabriel Leiva and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
In brief
SquadJosé Benítez is not doing himself any favours
SquadNery Bareiro is training like a man with a point to make
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olimpia have kept their man, and 12 de Octubre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The offer from General Caballero for Lucas Acosta 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.
Nery Bareiro 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.
12 de Octubre have made the call to Colón. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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 José Miers is on it.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at 12 de Octubre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexis Estupiñán 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.
12 de Octubre and Olimpia have settled on $1.5M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
12 de Octubre had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Benfica, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Altach have kept their man, and 12 de Octubre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
General Diaz will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. 12 de Octubre were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 8.36 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sportivo Trinidense waiting with a shirt. Nobody at 12 de Octubre is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Altach have kept their man, and 12 de Octubre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Nery Bareiro 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Juventus have kept their man, and 12 de Octubre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
12 de Octubre have made the call to Altach. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
Nery Bareiro 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.
12 de Octubre asked and Barnsley said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Justo Roa 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.
Stockport County have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Olimpia.
12 de Octubre asked and Inter said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at 12 de Octubre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Justo Roa 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 17 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
12 de Octubre have made the call to Juventus. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Kevin Salinas is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
There were 89 minutes on the clock and General Caballero had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and 12 de Octubre did not stop to explain themselves.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 12 de Octubre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Luis Fernández. 1‑0 against General Caballero, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at 12 de Octubre 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.
Nery Bareiro 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ivan Gimenez after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at 12 de Octubre, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Nacional? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Nery Bareiro 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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
“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 12 de Octubre, and it is not being withdrawn.
Aldo Torres 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ivan Gimenez after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Something was said to Agustín Segundo and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexis Estupiñán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 12 de Octubre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ivan Gimenez on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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 team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Nery Bareiro 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.
Justo Roa 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.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
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 1‑2 Ivan Gimenez left the room before anybody could ask which.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. 12 de Octubre have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
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 José Miers is on it.
Successful dribbles: 9. 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.
Nery Bareiro 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.
0‑1 to Sportivo Trinidense, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Justo Roa 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.
Half the programme played, position 7, 13 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Something was said to Lucas Urán and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad19 Apr 2027
The division's best last weekend was a 12 de Octubre man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Milciades Adorno was the best thing in any of them.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.14 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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 12 de Octubre, 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 12 de Octubre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Marked 8.04 — 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at 12 de Octubre can tell you which week it ends in.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Nery Bareiro 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at 12 de Octubre has been clear about where Fernando Noguera stands, which is more than many ever get.
0‑3 against Sportivo Luqueno, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
Nery Bareiro 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 6.68 on 11 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
6 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 12 de Octubre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad22 Mar 2027
José Benítez 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.
Beaten 4 times, with 2 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
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 José Miers is on 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 12 de Octubre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Level with 89 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon 12 de Octubre had all but put away. General Caballero will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ivan Gimenez after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 17 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.
River Plate go through and 12 de Octubre go home, 1‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Minute 86, against River Plate, 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.
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. 12 de Octubre lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” 12 de Octubre have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 12 de Octubre, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nery Bareiro 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.
“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 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ivan Gimenez was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the 12 de Octubre dressing room was either.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at 12 de Octubre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Benítez 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.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. 12 de Octubre lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” 12 de Octubre have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Nery Bareiro 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 wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. 12 de Octubre have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Angelo Rovegno
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. 12 de Octubre lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 12 de Octubre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Derlis Martínez. 1‑0 against Sol de America, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Derlis Martínez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.42. 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
11 new faces, and 12 de Octubre are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Benítez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
49 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. 12 de Octubre lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Ivan Gimenez could afford to be generous.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Benítez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at 12 de Octubre. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The words a physio says slowly. 56 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
Nery Bareiro 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 captaincy has been taken off Derlis Martínez. 12 de Octubre will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
“I will play as long as the body lets me and stop the day it does not.” He is 38, with 413 appearances behind him, and the club has to plan for a decision that is not yet made.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Nery Bareiro’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and 12 de Octubre needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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 list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Fernando Noguera may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
The words a physio says slowly. 65 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
74 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. 12 de Octubre 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.
“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 12 de Octubre, 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 12 de Octubre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Albion have kept their man, and 12 de Octubre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
11 new faces, and 12 de Octubre are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
In brief
The dugoutJosé Miers has become a man the manager trusts
82 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. 12 de Octubre lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. 12 de Octubre will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. General Caballero moved on, Lucas Acosta reports back to 12 de Octubre, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Nery Bareiro 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
Words at 12 de Octubre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Derlis 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Venezia have kept their man, and 12 de Octubre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Diego Caceres is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Federico Martinez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
92 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. 12 de Octubre lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. 12 de Octubre will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” 12 de Octubre have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Sampdoria is saying, and nobody at 12 de Octubre is enjoying the guessing.
Nery Bareiro 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Estudiantes have kept their man, and 12 de Octubre go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Angelo Rovegno and 12 de Octubre agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Alfred Duncan is in the works
100 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. 12 de Octubre lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. 12 de Octubre will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. 12 de Octubre have done the hard part with Nueva Chicago, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Nery Bareiro 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.
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.
12 de Octubre asked and Port Vale 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 17 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
108 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. 12 de Octubre lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 12 de Octubre, and it is not being withdrawn.
$73.0K on the table at Olimpia. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 12 de Octubre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Gabriel Leiva has, at 12 de Octubre, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Sportivo Trinidense wanted more than $63.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Sportivo Luqueno will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Mateo Jara has pre-agreed a move to 12 de Octubre, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
116 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. 12 de Octubre lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. 12 de Octubre will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
$73.0K was the most the club would pay and Guarani were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Derlis Cabañas has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means 12 de Octubre have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Aldo Torres 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Juan Balbuena has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The words a physio says slowly. 126 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 12 de Octubre will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
12 de Octubre have gone to Guarani 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.
Nery Bareiro 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.
Sportivo Trinidense will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Axel Cañete has pre-agreed a move to 12 de Octubre, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
12 de Octubre have made the call to Guarani. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
135 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. 12 de Octubre lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. 12 de Octubre will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Nery Bareiro 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.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. 12 de Octubre lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. 12 de Octubre will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. 12 de Octubre 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. 105 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 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
Nery Bareiro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at 12 de Octubre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexis Estupiñán 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 12 de Octubre 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.
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. 12 de Octubre lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason 12 de Octubre will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Nery Bareiro 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Gustavo Barrios has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Juan Enciso is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
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 Luis Fernández is on it.
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 Nery Bareiro has written the date down.
The words a physio says slowly. 58 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 12 de Octubre will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at 12 de Octubre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian López 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 12 de Octubre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at 12 de Octubre. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
The dugoutJosé Benítez knocks on the manager's door
The words a physio says slowly. 65 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 12 de Octubre will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Aldo Torres 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
12 new faces, and 12 de Octubre are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at 12 de Octubre. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at 12 de Octubre, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 72 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. 12 de Octubre will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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. 12 de Octubre will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Nery Bareiro 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 Cristian López was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Santiago Balbuena is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Hugo Caceres is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
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 dugoutLucas Acosta knocks on the manager's door
The words a physio says slowly. 87 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.
Nery Bareiro 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 club 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 it has been tried.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexis Estupiñán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at 12 de Octubre, and both men came out saying it was fine.
95 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. 12 de Octubre lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 12 de Octubre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at 12 de Octubre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian López 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 words a physio says slowly. 103 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.
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.
111 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. 12 de Octubre lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Jorge Gonzalez has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Oscar Gonzalez 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexis Estupiñán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at 12 de Octubre 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 12 de Octubre, and both men came out saying it was fine.
119 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. 12 de Octubre lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 12 de Octubre, 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 12 de Octubre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 12 de Octubre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at 12 de Octubre training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian López 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 offer from Siracusa for Carlos Figueredo 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cristian López was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Ivan Gimenez to a room that had heard them before.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Nobody at 12 de Octubre 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 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
Nery Bareiro 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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 name of Carlos Figueredo has come up in conversations 12 de Octubre were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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 dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ivan Gimenez was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the 12 de Octubre dressing room was either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at 12 de Octubre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Miguel Cardozo has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Cristian Alderete 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Juan Gimenez has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
In brief
SquadCristian López falls out with a teammate over standards
8 seasons and 31 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
Nery Bareiro 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.
11 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.