2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Quilmes the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Chaco For Ever will enjoy reviewing.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The match ball belongs to Jesus Rios, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings14 Apr 2036
Mateo Ruiz, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.97
A mark of 7.97 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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
The mood at Chaco For Ever 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Chaco For Ever, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.07 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Luis Alberto Flores and Chaco For Ever agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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 Chaco For Ever, and both men came out saying it was fine.
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Chaco For Ever could ask drops and the wages Lautaro Calderón can ask rise.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Chaco For Ever will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
1‑2 against San Martín de Burzaco, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
The mood at Chaco For Ever 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.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“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 Chaco For Ever, and it is not being withdrawn.
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Chaco For Ever can tell you which week it ends in.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $4.1M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
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.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chaco For Ever can pretend not to have heard.
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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 10 actions, 6.45, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
Successful dribbles: 11. 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.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Chaco For Ever have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
The dugout18 Feb 2036
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Liam Paz has his answer from Chaco For Ever; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Villa San Carlos defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
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.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Chaco For Ever scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
“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 Chaco For Ever, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 18 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.
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
0‑3 against Central Norte, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“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 Chaco For Ever, and it is not being withdrawn.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Chaco For Ever can tell you which week it ends in.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Joaquín 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Cristian Fernández is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“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 Chaco For Ever, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everybody at Chaco For Ever saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 37 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout28 Jan 2036
Franco Ríos is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Chaco For Ever know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Position 28 and 17 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chaco For Ever, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Bruno García
The mood at Chaco For Ever 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.
Chaco For Ever asked and Gimnasia y Esgrima said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $4.2M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chaco For Ever, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Chaco For Ever know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Chaco For Ever opened the door and nobody walked through it. So Lautaro Calderón stays — listed, trained, and available — while both sides mark the days to January on the same calendar.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
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.
“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 Chaco For Ever, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Flandria is saying, and nobody at Chaco For Ever is enjoying the guessing.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Gimnasia y Esgrima 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chaco For Ever can pretend not to have heard.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Independiente is saying, and nobody at Chaco For Ever is enjoying the guessing.
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.
The dugout31 Dec 2035
Franco Ríos is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Chaco For Ever know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chaco For Ever, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
BoardroomThe Chaco For Ever production line keeps running
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Ian Mercado
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Chaco For Ever have done the hard part with Flandria, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Chaco For Ever is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad24 Dec 2035
Ian Mercado falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Chaco For Ever 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.
The mood at Chaco For Ever 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.
The offer from Madryn for Alex Yegros 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.
Chaco For Ever had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Banfield, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ian Mercado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Chaco For Ever asked and Banfield said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
10 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.
0‑4 to Agropecuario Argentino, 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.
The phone has started ringing about Alex Yegros again, and this time the name on the line is Madryn. Chaco For Ever are listening politely and promising nothing.
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
9 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.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Los Andes the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Chaco For Ever will enjoy reviewing.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chaco For Ever can pretend not to have heard.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Player ratings3 Dec 2035
A brace, and Jesus Rios takes the afternoon — 7.99
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jesus Rios provided it, and the 7.99 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 19 combined actions and a mark of 6.82, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
In brief
SquadWords at Chaco For Ever training over how hard people work
“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 Chaco For Ever, and it is not being withdrawn.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Cristian Varela did not need any: 7.77, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
This is not rotation. Gianfranco Rossi has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Chaco For Ever is pretending otherwise.
Squad26 Nov 2035
Words at Chaco For Ever training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ian Mercado 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 not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
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.
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Chaco For Ever could ask drops and the wages Ian Mercado can ask rise.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout19 Nov 2035
The manager has not finished forgetting Franco Ríos'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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alex Yegros signs something — a contract at Chaco For Ever or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Nov 2035
Words at Chaco For Ever training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ian Mercado is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
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.
“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 Chaco For Ever, and it is not being withdrawn.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gianfranco Rossi and Chaco For Ever agree another 2 years.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
0‑4 to Deportivo Laferrere, 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chaco For Ever can pretend not to have heard.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ian Mercado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad15 Oct 2035
Ian Mercado falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and José Herrera trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
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.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Chaco For Ever can tell you which week it ends in.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 14 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of 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 Chaco For Ever can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ian Mercado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Marked 7.70 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad24 Sep 2035
Jose Duque falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He is 18 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.
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
16 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Chaco For Ever is running low.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Gianfranco Rossi scored, was marked 7.46, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“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 Chaco For Ever, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad10 Sep 2035
Words at Chaco For Ever training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jose Duque is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lautaro Calderón trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“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 Chaco For Ever, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mateo Ruiz did not need any: 7.85, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
In brief
SquadJose Duque falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
0‑4 to Real Pilar, 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.
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 10 actions, 7.55, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Alex Yegros
10 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.
Squad20 Aug 2035
Jose Duque falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Luis Alberto García has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Emiliano Castro has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Luis Alberto Muñoz has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Franco Ríos has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
0‑8 to Deportivo Armenio, 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
0‑5 to San Miguel, 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.
9 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Chaco For Ever can tell you which week it ends in.
“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.
Match7 Aug 2035
Nobody could stop scoring
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Chaco For Ever and Deportivo Armenio in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad13 Aug 2035
Words at Chaco For Ever training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jose Duque 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Chaco For Ever can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
0‑3 to Excursionistas, 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chaco For Ever can pretend not to have heard.
7 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 gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
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.
0‑7 to Fénix, 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Chaco For Ever can tell you which week it ends in.
Chaco For Ever had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Banfield, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Chaco For Ever and Fénix, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Gimnasia La Plata have kept their man, and Chaco For Ever go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad30 Jul 2035
Words at Chaco For Ever training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jose Duque 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 upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Chaco For Ever is running low.
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.
“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.
Boardroom23 Jul 2035
Chaco For Ever close the window on a squad of their own making
0 in and 9 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Chaco For Ever will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Chaco For Ever have done the hard part with Banfield, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Maipú is saying, and nobody at Chaco For Ever is enjoying the guessing.
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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Chaco For Ever have done the hard part with Deportivo Riestra, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Chaco For Ever had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Rosario Central, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Chaco For Ever 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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Bruno Gómez is in the works
Looking aheadChaco For Ever take on the side everybody is chasing
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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 Chaco For Ever, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings9 Jul 2035
Benicio Russo, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.29
A mark of 8.29 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Chaco For Ever asked and Deportivo Merlo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad9 Jul 2035
Words at Chaco For Ever training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jose Duque 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 19 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.
It had gone 25 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
The terraces2 Jul 2035
The mood at Chaco For Ever 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.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Talleres keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Chaco For Ever asked and Unión de Santa Fe said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad2 Jul 2035
Jose Duque falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Jonathan Pellistri 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Chaco For Ever have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Defensa y Justicia is saying, and nobody at Chaco For Ever is enjoying the guessing.
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.96 for the rest of it.
Everything agreed with Unión de Santa Fe, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Chaco For Ever had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Godoy Cruz, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Gimnasia y Tiro left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad18 Jun 2035
Jose Duque falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
1‑5 against Deportivo Laferrere, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“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 Chaco For Ever, and it is not being withdrawn.
Chaco For Ever had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at San Lorenzo, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
20 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 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.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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 Chaco For Ever, and it is not being withdrawn.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Chaco For Ever is running low.
8 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.
Squad28 May 2035
Words at Chaco For Ever training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jose Duque is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Benicio Russo
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for José Castillo
18 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.
0‑5 to Sacachispas, 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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 7 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 Jose Duque was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Everybody at Chaco For Ever saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout21 May 2035
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 0‑5 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
6 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jose Duque trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
16 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 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Juan Manuel López and Chaco For Ever agree another 3 years.
Squad7 May 2035
Words at Chaco For Ever training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jose Duque 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.
14 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.
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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jose Duque was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.00 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad16 Apr 2035
Jose Duque falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” José Herrera and Chaco For Ever agree another 3 years.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout16 Apr 2035
Ian Mercado is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugoutIan Mercado knocks on the manager’s door
454Edition
The Chaco For Ever Sentinel
9 Apr 2035
From our football correspondentCrisis
The terraces9 Apr 2035
The mood at Chaco For Ever 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.
1‑4 to Gimnasia y Esgrima, 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Gianfranco Rossi and Chaco For Ever agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad9 Apr 2035
Jose Duque falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout9 Apr 2035
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 1‑4 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Chaco For Ever, another week without a signature from Nicolás Ramos.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
They sit in position 18 and they will be waiting. Away form is where a season shows its true character, and this side has a point to make about its own.
9 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.
4 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.
San Miguel left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad26 Mar 2035
Jose Duque falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout26 Mar 2035
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 Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jose Duque 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.” Interim Coach after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
The dugout12 Mar 2035
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 shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Squad5 Mar 2035
Jose Duque falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Chaco For Ever 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.
0‑3 against Fénix, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad26 Feb 2035
Ian Mercado falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout26 Feb 2035
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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lautaro Calderón trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Off the academy pitches and onto a senior team sheet at 16. The debut is the easy part; the second appearance is the one every young player has to earn.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 13 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑5, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer 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.
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
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.
7.47, 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.
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.
Squad12 Feb 2035
Words at Chaco For Ever training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ian Mercado 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 is 19 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.
15 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.
There is nobody left to promote and nobody left to run a session. The board have brought in a name the supporters do not know, and the question of how a club gets here will outlast whoever answers it.
“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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Squad5 Feb 2035
Ian Mercado falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ian Mercado trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Raúl Blanco signs something — a contract at Chaco For Ever or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ian Mercado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Nicolás Torres is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Carlos Alberto Cohen is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Chueco is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Emiliano Correa has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
In brief
The dugoutBenicio Russo knocks on the manager’s door
The mood at Chaco For Ever 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.
This is not rotation. Nicolás Ramos has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Chaco For Ever is pretending otherwise.
Squad15 Jan 2035
Ian Mercado falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
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.
Chaco For Ever spent the window trying to move Jonathan Pellistri on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Bruno García
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
“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 Chaco For Ever, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Chaco For Ever asked and All Boys said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lautaro Calderón trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Chaco For Ever, another week without a signature from Nicolás Ramos.
Position 28 and 16 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Chaco For Ever have done the hard part with Estudiantes, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad1 Jan 2035
Ian Mercado falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
This is not rotation. Juan Manuel López has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Chaco For Ever is pretending otherwise.
Squad25 Dec 2034
Words at Chaco For Ever training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ian Mercado 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.
Chaco For Ever asked and Patronato 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Raúl Blanco signs something — a contract at Chaco For Ever or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
85 graduates, from a department now rated 4 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Nicolás Ramos are not good
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.
“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 Chaco For Ever, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Colegiales 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 borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Chaco For Ever have made the call to Patronato. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Gianfranco Rossi is on it.
In brief
The dugoutIan Mercado asks for a word with the manager
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 16 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chaco For Ever can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Chaco For Ever have done the hard part with Defensa y Justicia, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 34 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Chaco For Ever is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ian Mercado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Position 28 and 15 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.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“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 Chaco For Ever, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
6 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.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad4 Dec 2034
Words at Chaco For Ever training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ian Mercado 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.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Chaco For Ever can tell you which week it ends in.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chaco For Ever this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Raúl Blanco, and the manager let it.
The dugout27 Nov 2034
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 0‑1 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Lautaro Calderón’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Chaco For Ever needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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.
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Squad20 Nov 2034
Ian Mercado falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Chaco For Ever, another week without a signature from Raúl Blanco.
Nobody at Chaco For Ever 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 Chaco For Ever, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Chaco For Ever is running low.
0‑3 to Almagro, 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.
4 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ian Mercado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Leonel Müller 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Chaco For Ever can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chaco For Ever can pretend not to have heard.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chaco For Ever will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Chaco For Ever can tell you which week it ends in.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ian Mercado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chaco For Ever this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
7 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.
This is not rotation. Nicolás Ramos has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Chaco For Ever is pretending otherwise.
Squad23 Oct 2034
Ian Mercado falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Chaco For Ever is running low.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Chaco For Ever told Jesus Rios something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Emiliano Miranda has his answer from Chaco For Ever; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Position 28 and 14 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.
A mark of 7.63 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 17-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ian Mercado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Leonel Müller 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 words a physio says slowly. 19 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
0‑5 to Sacachispas, 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.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
“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 Chaco For Ever, and it is not being withdrawn.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 26 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
0‑4 against Argentino de Quilmes, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Chaco For Ever can tell you which week it ends in.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lautaro Calderón, and the manager let it.
Squad25 Sep 2034
Words at Chaco For Ever training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonel Müller 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.
33 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Chaco For Ever lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Chaco For Ever, and it is not being withdrawn.
This is not rotation. Leonel Müller has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Chaco For Ever is pretending otherwise.
Squad18 Sep 2034
Ian Mercado falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Leonel Müller 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.
40 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Chaco For Ever lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Leonel Müller 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.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $4.4M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Chaco For Ever can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Marked 7.32 on 14 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 34 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chaco For Ever this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
15 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Alvarado were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.02 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
This is not rotation. Nicolás Ramos has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Chaco For Ever is pretending otherwise.
Squad28 Aug 2034
Ian Mercado falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Quilmes kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Chaco For Ever will be asked about the last half hour all week.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chaco For Ever can pretend not to have heard.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Pablo Vázquez did not need any: 8.04, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Everybody at Chaco For Ever saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Squad21 Aug 2034
Words at Chaco For Ever training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ian Mercado 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.
Leonel Müller and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
12 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chaco For Ever will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Gianfranco Rossi scored, was marked 7.75, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Leonel Müller 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chaco For Ever will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Chaco For Ever can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad7 Aug 2034
Ian Mercado falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
0‑5 to Excursionistas, 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chaco For Ever will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Chaco For Ever, and it is not being withdrawn.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ian Mercado 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. San Lorenzo have kept their man, and Chaco For Ever go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Chaco For Ever is running low.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chaco For Ever will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chaco For Ever can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom24 Jul 2034
Chaco For Ever close the window on a squad of their own making
0 in and 5 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Boca Juniors keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
0‑6 against Villa San Carlos, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Position 27 and 10 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.
“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 Chaco For Ever, and it is not being withdrawn.
6 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Chaco For Ever have done the hard part with Estudiantes, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
This is not rotation. Roberto Correa has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Chaco For Ever is pretending otherwise.
Match15 Jul 2034
Nobody could stop scoring
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Chaco For Ever and Villa San Carlos in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ian Mercado 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.” Chaco For Ever have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Chaco For Ever, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything agreed with Defensa y Justicia, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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.
Squad10 Jul 2034
Words at Chaco For Ever training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ian Mercado is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The mood at Chaco For Ever 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.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“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 Chaco For Ever, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Independiente 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Chaco For Ever and Mitre, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Chaco For Ever can tell you which week it ends in.
“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 Chaco For Ever, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Everything agreed with Gimnasia La Plata, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ian Mercado 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. Godoy Cruz have kept their man, and Chaco For Ever go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chaco For Ever can pretend not to have heard.
Everybody at Chaco For Ever saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 34 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ian Mercado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Leonel Müller 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Jesus Rios 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 10 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
“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 Chaco For Ever, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything was agreed with Defensa y Justicia and then the doctor spoke. Chaco For Ever have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
Everything agreed with Estudiantes, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Chaco For Ever had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Talleres, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Everybody at Chaco For Ever saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 38 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
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.
0‑4 to Deportivo Merlo, 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.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
0‑3 against Deportivo Laferrere, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“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 Chaco For Ever, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
5 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Chaco For Ever is running low.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chaco For Ever can pretend not to have heard.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 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 Ian Mercado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
0‑6 against Sacachispas, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
0‑4 against San Martín de Burzaco, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Position 27 and 7 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match16 May 2034
Nobody could stop scoring
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Chaco For Ever and Sacachispas in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.