91 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Banfield lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a 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 Banfield can pretend not to have heard.
Position 13 and 6 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Banfield they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Tomás Adoryan 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lisandro Piñero 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.
98 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Banfield lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Tomás Adoryan 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 Lisandro Piñero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Banfield interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Interim Coach keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Banfield they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Santiago López García was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Independiente Rivadavia next, and one man in the Banfield dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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 Jonás Rodríguez has written the date down.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Banfield 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Banfield can tell you which week it ends in.
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.
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Banfield they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
38 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Tomás Adoryan 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.
0‑1 to Huracán, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout11 Mar 2030
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 Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Juan Iribarren has his answer from Banfield; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Lisandro Piñero 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.
River Plate left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago López García 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 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 dugout4 Mar 2030
The manager has not finished forgetting Tomás Adoryan's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout4 Mar 2030
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 0‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Lautaro Villegas has his answer from Banfield; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ariel Torres will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Banfield the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Marked 8.47 — 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Banfield will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Banfield can tell you which week it ends in.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Facundo Sanguinetti 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.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lisandro Piñero 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 point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Banfield will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Banfield they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Lisandro Piñero 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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Banfield can tell you which week it ends in.
10 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
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
Player ratingsTomás Adoryan beats them one at a time
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Banfield will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The coaching staff has emptied out entirely and there was nobody internal to promote, so the club has appointed a name almost none of its supporters will recognise. Clubs recover from this; none of them enjoy explaining it.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Banfield hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lisandro Piñero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
Boardroom6 academy players handed senior numbers at Banfield
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 53 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Banfield is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Facundo Sanguinetti 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.
Squad28 Jan 2030
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lisandro Piñero 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 Rodrigo Auzmendi is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Banfield. 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 Banfield, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Banfield will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Santiago López García was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Banfield 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 Ignacio Abraham signs something — a contract at Banfield or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Banfield that is a harder question to answer.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Brandon Oviedo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Banfield the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Banfield 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.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Alan Sosa has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Banfield have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Elián Báez has just signed for Banfield, and for once the answer mattered.
Banfield had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Newell's Old Boys, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
Banfield asked and Racing said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nobody at Banfield 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ariel Torres will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Banfield the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Banfield 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. Bragantino have kept their man, and Banfield go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago López García 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 Banfield 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 Banfield, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Banfield that is a harder question to answer.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Instituto waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Banfield is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Banfield, and it is not being withdrawn.
Facundo Sanguinetti 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.
Banfield asked and FC Nordsjaelland said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 Facundo Sanguinetti is on it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Banfield people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Brandon Oviedo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Banfield the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Banfield have done the hard part with Juventud, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Banfield 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 Lisandro Piñero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cesena have kept their man, and Banfield go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Argentinos Juniors have accepted the money. What Banfield do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The phone has started ringing about Rodrigo Auzmendi again, and this time the name on the line is Boca Juniors. Banfield are listening politely and promising nothing.
Lisandro Piñero 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. Kawasaki Frontale have kept their man, and Banfield go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago López García 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 loan enquiry to Sheffield United: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
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.
Facundo Sanguinetti 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.
Banfield asked and Racing 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 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Banfield know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Banfield would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Banfield than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
The window is open, and with it the only month of the year when a supporter’s hopes are limited by nothing but arithmetic. The board know the arithmetic; the supporters know the hopes.
Facundo Sanguinetti 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 Nov 2029
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lisandro Piñero 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 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.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Banfield is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Lisandro Piñero 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.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago López García 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 Lisandro Piñero 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.
Facundo Sanguinetti and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lisandro Piñero 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 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 Banfield, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Banfield hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Facundo Sanguinetti 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 Lisandro Piñero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Banfield 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Juan Luis Alfaro has come out of that comparison in the side, and Banfield have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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 Lautaro Gómez has written the date down.
Boca Juniors go through and Banfield 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.
5 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: 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.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago López García 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 Banfield 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
The dugoutFavio Álvarez asks for a word with the manager
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Banfield have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Banfield is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Banfield this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lisandro Piñero 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 point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Leonardo Lucero after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Rodrigo Auzmendi will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Banfield escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rodrigo Auzmendi provided it, and the 9.23 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lisandro Piñero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 7.83, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Banfield this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals in one match, Braian Rojas on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Banfield and Rosario Central.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Santiago López García was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Banfield prefer.
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
The dugout8 Oct 2029
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 1‑5 Leonardo Lucero left the room before anybody could ask which.
Two goals and a mark of 9.94 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
Marked 8.16 — 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 7.79, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Banfield they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Banfield this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lisandro Piñero 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Banfield, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Lisandro Piñero 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Banfield and Patronato, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Santiago López García was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Banfield scored in the 96th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Facundo Sanguinetti 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.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lisandro Piñero 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Lisandro Piñero has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Leonardo Lucero on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gerardo Martínez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Banfield the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Facundo Sanguinetti 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.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lisandro Piñero 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: 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Leonardo Lucero after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Lisandro Piñero has come out of that comparison in the side, and Banfield have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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.
The offer from Puebla for Agustín Cañete 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Brandon Oviedo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Banfield the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Lisandro Piñero 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 Santiago López García was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.31 — 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Lisandro Piñero at his very best
Two goals and a mark of 9.27 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lisandro Piñero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A 2‑2 draw with River Plate leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout20 Aug 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Leonardo Lucero was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Banfield dressing room was either.
Nobody at Banfield 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 Facundo Sanguinetti signs something — a contract at Banfield or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Facundo Suárez
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lisandro Piñero provided it, and the 8.23 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Facundo Sanguinetti 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.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lisandro Piñero 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.
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Leonardo Lucero on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Banfield hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Banfield is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Alejo González has just signed for Banfield, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Santiago López García was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
16 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Facundo Sanguinetti: 3 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Banfield is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Banfield 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 Lisandro Piñero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rodrigo Auzmendi. 1‑0 against Independiente Rivadavia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Two goals and a mark of 8.17 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Banfield have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Boardroom23 Jul 2029
Deadline passes with 2 signed and 8 gone
That is the business done at Banfield until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The offer from Independiente Rivadavia for Cristian Jiménez Osuna 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Banfield they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Banfield and Sarmiento in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lisandro Piñero 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.
In brief
Transfer targetsThe window shuts on the Oscar Gonzalez deal
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Banfield people have started saying his name in the past tense.
$3.9M was the most the club would pay and Rosario Central 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 deal with Cerro Porteno 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Banfield 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.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Banfield will quote 18 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Banfield, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutFacundo Suárez has become a man the manager trusts
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Banfield people have started saying his name in the past tense.
$3.9M on the table at Rosario Central. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gerardo Martínez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Banfield the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Facundo Sanguinetti 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lisandro Piñero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Banfield have made the call to Cerro Porteno. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lisandro Piñero trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Everything agreed with Godoy Cruz, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
“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 Banfield, 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 Banfield 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 Lisandro Piñero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Flamengo have kept their man, and Banfield go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part 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 Banfield, and it is not being withdrawn.
Lisandro Piñero 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.
Banfield asked and Argentinos Juniors 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 interest is real enough to have reached print. Banfield have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago López García 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Belgrano waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Banfield is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Banfield and Huracán have settled on $140.0K. 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Tigre is saying, and nobody at Banfield is enjoying the guessing.
Facundo Sanguinetti 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 Lisandro Piñero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Banfield asked and Gimnasia La Plata 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 Sheffield United: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Nobody at Banfield 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.90 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Banfield have done the hard part with Independiente, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gerardo Martínez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Banfield the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Facundo Sanguinetti 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. Mitre have kept their man, and Banfield go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ignacio Sarzynski is living that version at Banfield, and it tends to show in the first month.
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 Banfield can pretend not to have heard.
Lisandro Piñero 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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago López García 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.
Gimnasia La Plata 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.
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 Braian Rojas is on it.
Facundo Sanguinetti 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
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 Ariel Torres is on it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Banfield have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Lisandro Piñero 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.
Squad21 May 2029
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignacio Abraham 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Banfield, 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.
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.
Lisandro Piñero 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Leonardo Lucero after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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 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 want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Banfield hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Facundo Sanguinetti 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.
Squad7 May 2029
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lisandro Piñero 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Lisandro Piñero has come out of that comparison in the side, and Banfield have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
It needed Rodrigo Auzmendi to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Gimnasia La Plata, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Leonardo Lucero after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Ariel Torres
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Banfield 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 Ignacio Abraham 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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Gino Santilli has his answer from Banfield; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Banfield, and both men came out saying it was fine.
7.97, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Lisandro Piñero 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Banfield and Racing, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
9.90. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Banfield this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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 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.
“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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Aldosivi? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Rosario Central in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
6 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
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 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Leonardo Lucero to a room that had heard them before.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Lautaro Gómez has his answer from Banfield; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
11 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Lisandro Piñero, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.27
A mark of 8.27 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
At 36 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Banfield this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 21 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.
Three points for Banfield, 2‑0 the final word against Patronato in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago López García 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 bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lisandro Piñero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Banfield has been clear about where Máximo Desábato stands, which is more than many ever get.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Facundo Sanguinetti signs something — a contract at Banfield or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Banfield that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Banfield. 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 Banfield, and both men came out saying it was fine.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Belgrano the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Banfield will enjoy reviewing.
Two goals and a mark of 9.13 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Lisandro Piñero 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.
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 dugout19 Mar 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Leonardo Lucero was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Banfield dressing room was either.
Marked 7.17 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Santiago López García was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Leonardo Lucero after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Facundo Krüger has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Facundo Sanguinetti 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 earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Leonardo Lucero on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
The mood at Banfield has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ignacio Abraham was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Lisandro Piñero 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Facundo Krüger. 1‑0 against Barracas Central, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Santiago López García was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Leonardo Lucero could afford to be generous.
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.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Lisandro Piñero did not need any: 7.62, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Facundo Sanguinetti 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Lisandro Piñero has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
A 2‑0 win over Independiente Rivadavia, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Independiente Rivadavia were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Marked 8.11. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Banfield.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
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.” Leonardo Lucero kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
5 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 Banfield this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignacio Abraham 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. Tomás Aguirre is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Gabriel Arce 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Pedro Silva 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Leonardo Iglesias 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Rodrigo Auzmendi at his very best
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Lisandro Piñero 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.
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.
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Banfield 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 Lisandro Piñero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing resets a career like somebody arriving who did not pick the side last season. Rodrigo Auzmendi has taken the hint, and Banfield are getting a version of him the previous regime had stopped seeing.
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 Alejandro Cabrera has written the date down.
23 graduates, from a department now rated 9 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
Lisandro Piñero and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignacio Abraham 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ignacio Abraham signs something — a contract at Banfield or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Santiago López García has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
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 Ariel Torres has written the date down.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Banfield people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Day 38 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Banfield this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Banfield asked and Atletico Nacional said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago López García 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Santiago Esquivel signs something — a contract at Banfield or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Banfield hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Banfield had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Tigre, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Facundo Sanguinetti and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lisandro Piñero 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.
Add another name to the list: Alianza Atletico have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Cristian Jiménez Osuna. The answer from Banfield has not changed — yet.
The deal with Platense 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Banfield this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignacio Abraham 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Valentín Chocobar trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 Banfield, and it is not being withdrawn.
Diego Rodríguez 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Santiago López García was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A loan enquiry to FC Nordsjaelland: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ignacio Abraham signs something — a contract at Banfield or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Banfield. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Banfield have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Independiente have accepted the money. What Banfield do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Diego Rodríguez 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.
Day 10 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
The statement thanked him for his efforts and wished him well, in that order and in about that many words. The search begins immediately.
The terraces4 Dec 2028
The mood at Banfield has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
“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 Banfield, 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sassuolo have kept their man, and Banfield go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Banfield lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Banfield they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Banfield 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Renzo Malanca signs something — a contract at Banfield or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Banfield. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gino Santilli trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Banfield is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Diego Rodríguez 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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignacio Abraham 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 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 Ariel Torres has written the date down.
Diego Rodríguez 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 Ignacio Abraham was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The mood at Banfield has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Diego Rodríguez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago López García 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Facundo Sanguinetti signs something — a contract at Banfield or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A new partner, a signature and a photograph nobody will remember. It funds a fortnight of wages, which is more than most headlines on this page can say for themselves.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Valentín Viola will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Banfield the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Banfield 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 Ignacio Abraham 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.
0‑3 to Argentinos Juniors, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nicolás Rojas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Banfield the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Diego Rodríguez 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ignacio Abraham was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout23 Oct 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 0‑3 Juan Manuel González left the room before anybody could ask which.
Diego Rodríguez 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.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
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.
Something was said to Facundo Sanguinetti and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Juan Manuel González after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Facundo Sanguinetti signs something — a contract at Banfield or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Banfield can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Banfield is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Banfield heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Banfield this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignacio Abraham 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 has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Banfield they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Diego Rodríguez 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.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Aldosivi were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Facundo Suárez. 2‑0 against Aldosivi, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Santiago López García was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Banfield have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Diego Rodríguez 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.
A season average of 7.27 with 13 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignacio Abraham 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.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Banfield is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Banfield 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.
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.
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout11 Sep 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Juan Manuel González to a room that had heard them before.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Banfield is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Santiago López García was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Ignacio Abraham is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Facundo Sanguinetti signs something — a contract at Banfield or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Independiente Rivadavia in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugoutThe manager makes Ariel Torres a promise
109Edition
The Banfield Herald
28 Aug 2028
From our football correspondentUneasy
The terraces28 Aug 2028
The mood at Banfield has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nicolás Rojas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Banfield the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Diego Rodríguez 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.
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.
Diego Rodríguez 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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignacio Abraham 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: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout21 Aug 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Juan Manuel González to a room that had heard them before.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ignacio Abraham signs something — a contract at Banfield or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Belgrano next, and one man in the Banfield dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
1‑5 against River Plate, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sebastián Martelli will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Banfield the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Banfield this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals in one match, Rodrigo Auzmendi on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Banfield and River Plate.
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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Banfield is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ignacio Abraham was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Diego Rodríguez
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nicolás Rojas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Banfield the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Atletico Nacional is saying, and nobody at Banfield is enjoying the guessing.
Diego Rodríguez 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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignacio Abraham 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.
8.19. 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Banfield have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at Banfield until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Banfield had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Tigre, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
Diego Rodríguez 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. Fiorentina have kept their man, and Banfield go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Two goals and a mark of 9.61 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Banfield have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have shaken hands with Independiente; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Banfield have done the hard part with Tigre, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Banfield they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Banfield this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Banfield training over how hard people work
Defensa y Justicia have accepted the money. What Banfield do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Banfield can pretend not to have heard.
Day 39 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
Add another name to the list: Newell's Old Boys have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Nicolás Rojas. The answer from Banfield has not changed — yet.
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 has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
$1.6M on the table at San Lorenzo. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Diego Rodríguez 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 approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago López García 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.
Banfield and San Lorenzo have settled on $770.0K. 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Tigre is saying, and nobody at Banfield is enjoying the guessing.
Diego Rodríguez 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atletico Nacional have kept their man, and Banfield go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Eibar did not take him to make up a number: they want him playing. For Lisandro Piñero that is worth more than another season of watching from Banfield's bench, and everyone involved has said so out loud.
“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 Banfield, and it is not being withdrawn.
The name of Lisandro Piñero has come up in conversations Banfield were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The deal with Tigre 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Banfield is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Banfield this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignacio Abraham 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.
Huracán go through and Banfield 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.
1 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.
Defensa y Justicia have accepted the money. What Banfield do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lisandro Piñero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
11 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Banfield asked and Gimnasia La Plata 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 bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Juan Manuel González recited it perfectly.
Diego Rodríguez 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sivasspor have kept their man, and Banfield go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Banfield, and it is not being withdrawn.
Diego Rodríguez 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ignacio Abraham was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Banfield 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 Lisandro Piñero signs something — a contract at Banfield 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 Banfield can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Banfield they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Banfield this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Banfield training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lisandro Piñero 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 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Banfield know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
0‑3 against Argentinos Juniors, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lisandro Piñero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.