“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 The request is on a desk at Colón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Matías Budiño 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Matías Godoy 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.
29 appearances at Tianjin Jinmen Tiger and the goals have stopped going in. Colón lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mauro Peinipil signs something — a contract at Colón or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
3 goals in 22 games at Shenzhen Peng City — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Colón updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colón is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Matías Godoy 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.
38 appearances at Dock Sud and the goals have stopped going in. Colón lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Colón that is a harder question to answer.
22 goals in 27 games at Nova Iguaçu — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Colón updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colón they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I watch every Colón game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Deportivo Riestra runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
In brief
The dugoutMatías Budiño knocks on the manager's door
“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 Colón, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Godoy is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a 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.
11 shut-outs in 36 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Tomás Paredes has been having a lot of them.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 54 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
“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 Colón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Matías Budiño 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Matías Godoy 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colón they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón 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 Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolás Talpone was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Colón game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Paysandu runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
19 goals in 24 games at Nova Iguaçu — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Colón updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Valentino Albornoz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colón the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Godoy 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. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
7.28, 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.
Matías Budiño 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 had been thinking. Matías Godoy 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.
Level with 85 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Colón had all but put away. Nueva Chicago will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Matías Budiño was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolás Talpone was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
11 clean sheets from 27 appearances at Tianjin Jinmen Tiger. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colón is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
7.81, 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Colón have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
16 goals in 21 games at Nova Iguaçu — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Colón updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Godoy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Colón, and 1 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
“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 Colón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colón they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Godoy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Colón game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Altamura runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The young player of the month award goes to a 19-year-old at Colón who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
“Every summer it is another club, another set of team-mates, another manager to convince. I have done all that. Now I want a pre-season at Colón and a proper look at me.” He remains Shenzhen Peng City’s player until the spell runs out — but the argument is with the club that owns him.
10 clean sheets from 25 appearances at Tianjin Jinmen Tiger. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
Position 3, 50 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The offer from Chengdu Rongcheng for Axel Beilis 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.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Matías Budiño and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Facundo Aguirre 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Matías Godoy. 2‑0 against Gimnasia y Esgrima, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
In brief
Boardroom112% of the income goes out in wages at Colón
A brace, and Alan Bonansea takes the afternoon — 8.78
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alan Bonansea provided it, and the 8.78 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Matías Budiño was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Godoy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Colón, and 0 appearances in 30 say he has earned the hearing.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Pedro De Luca could afford to be generous.
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
A brace, and Alan Bonansea takes the afternoon — 8.31
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alan Bonansea provided it, and the 8.31 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colón they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón 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 Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Godoy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Colón game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Deportivo Riestra runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colón is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
9 clean sheets from 22 appearances at Tianjin Jinmen Tiger. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
The offer from Talleres for Alan Bonansea 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.
“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 Colón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Matías Budiño 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 had been thinking. Matías Godoy 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Enzo Ramírez 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. Maximiliano Acosta is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
SquadFacundo Aguirre is the division's best young player this month
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Colón have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 30 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Colón have gone to Güemes with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Matías Godoy 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 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Valentino Albornoz 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Colón people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Temperley keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolás Talpone was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Colón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Matías Budiño and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Matías Godoy 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.
“I watch every Colón game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Paysandu runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
10 goals in 13 games at Nova Iguaçu — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Colón updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Marked 7.67 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Colón had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Pedro De Luca kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Colón people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 Colón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Matías Budiño 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 Matías Godoy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Argentino de Merlo waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Colón is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón can pretend not to have heard.
Matías Budiño 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.
Everybody at Colón 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolás Talpone was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matías Godoy trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Colón have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Colón, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Caldas for Benjamín Alegre was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Temperley is saying, and nobody at Colón is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Godoy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The phone has started ringing about Nicolás Nagel again, and this time the name on the line is Deportivo Riestra. Colón are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
Agustín Toledo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.20 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
7 matches without a win, and then this, against Agropecuario Argentino. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Godoy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The phone has started ringing about Benjamín Alegre again, and this time the name on the line is Ypiranga. Colón are listening politely and promising nothing.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
Franco García was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.11. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“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 Colón, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Colón have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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 7.63 for the rest of it.
Matías Budiño and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
Matías Budiño 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Matías Godoy 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 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Colón, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Godoy is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Colón, and 3 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Colón has been clear about where Bautista Maillier stands, which is more than many ever get.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Talpone is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Colón, and 5 appearances in 20 say he has earned the hearing.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Matías Budiño 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 Matías Godoy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Colón will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
“I did not go to Tianjin Jinmen Tiger to sit and watch. I want to come back to Colón and fight for my place.” 9 appearances in 11 matches say the rest.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Facundo Castet trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Position 2, 24 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Matías Budiño was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad3 May 2027
Matías Godoy 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Luca Campagnaro has come out of that comparison in the side, and Colón have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
A 1‑1 draw with Gimnasia y Esgrima leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout3 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Pedro De Luca was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Colón dressing room was either.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Talpone is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Colón, and 3 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
“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.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 85th, and San Martín SJ spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
7.81, 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Matías Godoy 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 won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 6.88, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
“I watch every Colón game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Nova Iguaçu runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Leandro Garate provided it, and the 8.73 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Matías Budiño 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Matías Godoy 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.
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Pedro De Luca kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
The dugoutMatías Budiño knocks on the manager’s door
Matías Budiño and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Colón, and 4 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“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 Colón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Godoy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Colón game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Shenzhen Peng City runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Colón told Alan Bonansea something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Nicolás Nagel, 20, is the weekend’s best young player
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where Colón would like this to lead.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Colón, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Defensores Unidos will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Colón were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Nicolás Nagel, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.50
A mark of 8.50 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Godoy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 20 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.
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.
“I watch every Colón game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Nova Iguaçu runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Matías Budiño was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolás Talpone was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
“I watch every Colón game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Beijing Guoan runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Pedro De Luca after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Leandro Garate has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Two goals and a mark of 9.21 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón can pretend not to have heard.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Facundo Castet scored, was marked 7.69, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Matías Budiño 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 Matías Godoy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 18 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Colón will try not to make too much of it.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.87 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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 7.73 for the rest of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Godoy is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I watch every Colón game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Tianjin Jinmen Tiger runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Colón have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón 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 Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolás Talpone was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Matías Budiño'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.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Alan Bonansea scored in the 89th minute, Central Norte had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Colón took the lot.
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.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Matías Budiño was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Castet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The 87th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Matías Godoy decided nobody was going anywhere. Agropecuario Argentino had no time left to answer.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Colón 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 Colón, and it is not being withdrawn.
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Federico Rasmussen 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.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Castet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón can pretend not to have heard.
Add another name to the list: Altamura have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Julián Marcioni. The answer from Colón has not changed — yet.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I watch every Colón game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Shandong Taishan runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
39 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Colón lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Henan FC had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The offer from Sevlievo for Tomás Gallay 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón 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.
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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Matías Budiño was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Castet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Benjamín Silva 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. Mateo Russo is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The offer from Chania for Nahuel Curcio 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.
Matías Budiño and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolás Talpone was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Colón, and 0 appearances in 0 say he has earned the hearing.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Colón will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Racing waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Colón is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
He is going to Danubio, the club has $2.6M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Castet is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
12 games, 6 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Colón now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Colón have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón can pretend not to have heard.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yéiler Góez 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Santiago Colidio has agreed terms with Sacachispas for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Leandro Zabala will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colón the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Matías Godoy 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.
Add another name to the list: Titanes Guanare have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Tomás Gallay. The answer from Colón has not changed — yet.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Yéiler Góez 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Bolívar waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Colón is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Colón will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colón is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Zahir Ibarra has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Matías Budiño 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.
Zahir Ibarra has left for Argentinos Juniors in a $160.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Matías Godoy 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Colón will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Belgrano waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Colón is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lucas Picech will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colón the goodbyes have quietly begun.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
The name of Nahuel Curcio has come up in conversations Colón were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Yéiler Góez 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colón can pretend not to have heard.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 40 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Yéiler Góez 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jorge Sanguina trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Colón have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Matías Budiño 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.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Matías Godoy 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.
5 goals in 8 games at Qingdao West Coast — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Colón updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Colón. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
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 Matías Budiño
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colón is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Matías Budiño 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Yéiler Góez 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matías Budiño trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Colón. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lucas Picech will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colón the goodbyes have quietly begun.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Federico Rasmussen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Colón, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Matías Budiño has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Federico Rasmussen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ignacio Antonio 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Matías Budiño'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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Colón, and 6 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
Matías Budiño was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Yéiler Góez 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Colón will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
23 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Facundo Castet trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A brace, and Ignacio Lago takes the afternoon — 8.32
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ignacio Lago provided it, and the 8.32 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody 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 Colón can pretend not to have heard.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Matías Budiño 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 had been thinking. Federico Rasmussen 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ignacio Lago. 3‑1 against Almirante Brown, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Colón is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Pedro De Luca kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colón is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Rasmussen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I watch every Colón game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Dorados runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jorge Sanguina trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Almirante Brown next, and one man in the Colón dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of 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 Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Yéiler Góez 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.
31 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Matías Budiño 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.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Matías Budiño knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Something was said to Nicolás Thaller and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
1‑4 to Nueva Chicago, 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. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Matías Budiño was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Rasmussen 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.
23 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Pedro De Luca after 1‑4, 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 Matías Budiño trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Successful dribbles: 28. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Matías Budiño and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Pedro De Luca on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Colón, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Colón have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colón is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Godoy 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 dugout14 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Pedro De Luca to a room that had heard them before.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Colón have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Nicolás Nagel
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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Godoy Cruz in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yéiler Góez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Colón, and 0 appearances in 0 say he has earned the hearing.
Chacarita Juniors next, and one man in the Colón dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The offer from Zhetysu for Nahuel Ciro 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.
Matías Budiño 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.
Add another name to the list: Platinum Stars have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Tomás Paredes. The answer from Colón has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco García is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
23 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Colón, and 1 appearances in 1 say he has earned the hearing.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The offer from CE Europa for Matías Córdoba 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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Nahuel Ciro has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Matías Budiño 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ignacio Antonio wants continental football; whether Colón can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Rasmussen 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.
10 combined actions and 7.03. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
2 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Defensores go through and Colón go home, 0‑0 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Rasmussen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Jonás Ravano has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
A 2‑0 win over San Martín SJ, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Gabriel Morales is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Matías Budiño 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matías Budiño, and the manager let it.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Franco García 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.
Still no offer on the table, and Ignacio Antonio’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Pedro De Luca was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Colón dressing room was either.
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 0 on the scoresheet, 7.44 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colón this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Godoy is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Thiago Fusco 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.
Add another name to the list: Qingdao West Coast have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Elías Santini. The answer from Colón has not changed — yet.