22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cienciano lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Carlos Garcés and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Claudio Núñez 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 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 dugout15 Feb 2027
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 Sergio Farfan to a room that had heard them before.
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.
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 Carlos Garcés is on it.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cienciano lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Claudio Núñez 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 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
A 1‑0 win over Alianza Atletico, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cienciano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The words a physio says slowly. 36 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.
Claudio Núñez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Cienciano 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.
Alianza Atletico next, and one man in the Cienciano dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Cienciano. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Cienciano the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
43 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cienciano lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Alejandro Hohberg 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Claudio Núñez 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 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.
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 Cristian Souza is on it.
Carlos Garcés and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Claudio Núñez 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.
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 Carlos Garcés is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Gonzalo Falcón signs something — a contract at Cienciano or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Kevin Becerra are not good
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cienciano can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cienciano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Fernando Flores 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maximiliano Amondarain was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kar Luis Sánchez and Cienciano agree another 3 years.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cienciano have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Add another name to the list: Melgar have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Kevin Becerra. The answer from Cienciano has not changed — yet.
Carlos Garcés 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Claudio Núñez 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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
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 Juan Romagnoli is on it.
Carlos Garcés and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Claudio Núñez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Nobody at Cienciano 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 Cienciano, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Gonzalo Falcón signs something — a contract at Cienciano or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The language is coming and there is somebody to talk to in the dressing room. A footballer who feels at home plays like one, and it never shows up in a scouting report.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Nadhir Colunga on the training pitch
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cienciano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Claudio Núñez 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 at Cienciano 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.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Cienciano have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
Alejandro Hohberg was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Claudio Núñez 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 did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Nadhir Colunga has his answer from Cienciano; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
Carlos Garcés 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josepmir Ballón 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 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.
In brief
The dugoutGonzalo Aguirre has become a man the manager trusts
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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Giacomo Gambetta has written the date down.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Gonzalo Falcón signs something — a contract at Cienciano or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Juan Romagnoli has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
In brief
SquadEduardo Rueda is the talk of the training ground
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cienciano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Claudio Núñez 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 at Cienciano 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 Cienciano, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Gerson Barreto has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
In brief
SquadHenry Caparó is not doing himself any favours
Carlos Garcés 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Claudio Núñez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Wilder Trauco is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Cienciano, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Claudio Núñez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Nobody 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carlos León was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Cienciano 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.
Josepmir Ballón 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Claudio Núñez 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.
16 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gabriel Costa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Claudio Núñez wants continental football; whether Cienciano can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cienciano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It 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.
Carlos Garcés 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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Beto Yotun has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Victor Valera is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Nobody at Cienciano 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Cienciano. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cienciano have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Carlos Garcés and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Claudio Núñez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josepmir Ballón was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Sep 2026
16 new faces, and Cienciano are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Nobody at Cienciano 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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Kevin Becerra has written the date down.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cienciano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gonzalo Aguirre trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Cienciano have no good answer.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cienciano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Claudio Núñez 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 spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Cristian Flores is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Claudio Núñez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josepmir Ballón was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Gabriel Costa has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Cienciano, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Alejandro Hohberg and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Aug 2026
16 new faces, and Cienciano are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
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 Carlos Garcés is on it.
A 3‑2 win over Alianza Lima, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A brace, and Carlos Garcés takes the afternoon — 9.27
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Carlos Garcés provided it, and the 9.27 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The offer from Auckland FC for Carlos Garcés 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.
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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Claudio Núñez wants continental football; whether Cienciano can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cienciano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Claudio Núñez 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 22 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.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Cristian Souza obliged against Juan Aurich. 3‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Cienciano.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Carlos Garcés was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Cesar Vallejo will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Fernando Da Rosa has pre-agreed a move to Cienciano, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Cienciano are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Sergio Santamaria has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Joel Abram 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. Raul Pena has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Miguel Santamaria is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Carlos Garcés 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Neri Bandiera 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.
Still no offer on the table, and Gerson Barreto’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
13 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Cienciano, another week without a signature from Gonzalo Aguirre.