From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Aug 2026
Nery Bareiro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
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.
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From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 37. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match12 Aug 2026
River Plate ended it 0‑0. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad17 Aug 2026
José Miers is the hero from the spot
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with José Miers: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer from Burton Albion for Aldo Torres 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
José Benítez hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what 12 de Octubre can pretend not to have heard.
Squad17 Aug 2026
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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Twelve yards and the whole ground holding its breath, and it did not go in. He will put his name down for the next one, which is the only thing to do.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Alexis Estupiñán 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 dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Fernando Gonzalez was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the 12 de Octubre dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Nery Bareiro 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 12 de Octubre this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Burton Albion have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Aldo Torres. The answer from 12 de Octubre has not changed — yet.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Oscar Acosta 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Fernando Fernandez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Cristian López 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
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nildo Viera and 12 de Octubre agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at 12 de Octubre
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.