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.
Minute 95, against San Lorenzo, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 85th, and Unión de Santa Fe spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Defensa y Justicia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Damián Fernández 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: David Barbona. 1‑0 against Unión de Santa Fe, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I watch every Defensa y Justicia game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Londrina runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Juan Manuel Gutiérrez 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 Braian Aguirre was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I did not go to Floresta to sit and watch. I want to come back to Defensa y Justicia and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 18 matches say the rest.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Facundo Correa after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Defensa y Justicia told Enzo Copetti something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Juan Manuel Gutiérrez 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.
“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 Defensa y Justicia, and 1 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
2‑5 against Central Córdoba SdE, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Chaco For Ever go through and Defensa y Justicia go home, 2‑4 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Defensa y Justicia has to find a result from somewhere.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Defensa y Justicia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Defensa y Justicia and Central Córdoba SdE, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Damián Fernández 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.
0‑4 to Estudiantes, 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. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. César Pérez 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.
“I did not go to Londrina to sit and watch. I want to come back to Defensa y Justicia and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 17 matches say the rest.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Facundo Correa after 0‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.50 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Juan Manuel Gutiérrez 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. Damián Fernández 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 Defensa y Justicia game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Floresta runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
César Pérez 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 Damián Fernández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Defensa y Justicia 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Facundo Correa after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Gastón Togni is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Defensa y Justicia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
César Pérez 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.
9 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.
“I watch every Defensa y Justicia game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Chengdu Rongcheng runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Defensa y Justicia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Platense next, and one man in the Defensa y Justicia dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Braian Aguirre was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Ezequiel Cannavo in the middle of it, and Vélez unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
“I watch every Defensa y Justicia game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Londrina runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout22 Mar 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.” Facundo Correa kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Something was said to Julián López and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Defensa y Justicia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
César Pérez 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.
7 goals in one match, David Barbona on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Defensa y Justicia and Instituto.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Braian Aguirre 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 Defensa y Justicia, and 0 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 3‑4 Facundo Correa left the room before anybody could ask which.
4 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Enzo Copetti trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Juan Manuel Gutiérrez 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
César Pérez 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 did not go to Tianjin Jinmen Tiger to sit and watch. I want to come back to Defensa y Justicia and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
The dugout8 Mar 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Facundo Correa to a room that had heard them before.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Aldo Maiz had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Defensa y Justicia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Damián Fernández 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.
13 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.
“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 Defensa y Justicia, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Agustín Hausch 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.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Ayrton Portillo
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Defensa y Justicia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Defensa y Justicia, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Juan Manuel Gutiérrez 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
César Pérez 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Grêmio have kept their man, and Defensa y Justicia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The name of Aldo Maiz has come up in conversations Defensa y Justicia were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“I did not go to Floresta to sit and watch. I want to come back to Defensa y Justicia and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 6 matches say the rest.
“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 Defensa y Justicia, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Alan Coria had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
César Pérez 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.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Damián Fernández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Defensa y Justicia asked and Ferro Carril Oeste said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Uruguayo is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Daniel Ortiz is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Defensa y Justicia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Defensa y Justicia can pretend not to have heard.
Defensa y Justicia asked and Tigre said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
$250.0K was the most the club would pay and Unión de Santa Fe were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Braian Aguirre was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Add another name to the list: Chania have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Tomás Villagra. The answer from Defensa y Justicia has not changed — yet.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Defensa y Justicia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Defensa y Justicia can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Antofagasta for Tomás Villagra 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.
Defensa y Justicia have gone to Unión de Santa Fe 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Braian Aguirre was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. River Plate have kept their man, and Defensa y Justicia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer went to Gimnasia La Plata this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The offer from Vélez for Ezequiel Burdin 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.
Juan Manuel Gutiérrez 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Luciano González is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Damián Fernández 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.
Position 14 and 10 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Deportivo Miranda had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Gimnasia La Plata wanted more than $2.6M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
César Pérez 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.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gastón González and Defensa y Justicia agree another 4 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Damián Fernández 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.
Defensa y Justicia asked and Argentinos Juniors said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Defensa y Justicia have paid $11.0M for Braian Aguirre, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
$5.6M was the most the club would pay and Gimnasia La Plata were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Defensa y Justicia is running low.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Defensa y Justicia have had the benefit of it.
Defensa y Justicia have gone to Gimnasia La Plata 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.
The offer from Kavala for Thiago Rojas 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.
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Defensa y Justicia 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.” Atletico Nacional had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Everything agreed with Internacional, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Defensa y Justicia have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Defensa y Justicia asked and América Mineiro said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
$5.6M on the table at Gimnasia La Plata. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The offer from Portuguesa for Nazareno Roselli 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 a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Lucas Picech is living that version at Defensa y Justicia, and it tends to show in the first month.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $6.2M — a club that wants Franco Torres enough to be asked twice.
In brief
SquadMateo Aguiar is a better footballer than he was
The words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
Defensa y Justicia have gone to Internacional 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.
Defensa y Justicia asked and Santos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Defensa y Justicia will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Defensa y Justicia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Boca Juniors moved on, Samuel Lucero reports back to Defensa y Justicia, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Felipe Coronel is living that version at Defensa y Justicia, and it tends to show in the first month.
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Defensa y Justicia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Defensa y Justicia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer went to Orenburg this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Guadalajara have kept their man, and Defensa y Justicia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $5.6M has been paid because Agustín Gallo is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Gimnasia La Plata paid $6.0M and Defensa y Justicia took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Lucas Souto has gone, the accounts have $6.0M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Agustín Gallo is living that version at Defensa y Justicia, and it tends to show in the first month.
The words a physio says slowly. 29 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Defensa y Justicia have done the hard part with Tristán Suárez, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The offer from Ayacucho for Santiago Sosa Yung 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.
Defensa y Justicia asked and Tristán Suárez said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Aarón Molinas and Defensa y Justicia agree another 4 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Defensa y Justicia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer went to Alvarado this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Damián Fernández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Defensa y Justicia 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Defensa y Justicia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Domingo Blanco has written the date down.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Agustín Hausch signs something — a contract at Defensa y Justicia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Defensa y Justicia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Defensa y Justicia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
César Pérez 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. Éver Banega is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Defensa y Justicia told Facundo Altamira something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Defensa y Justicia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Position 14 and 10 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Defensa y Justicia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Juan Manuel Gutiérrez 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 Damián Fernández 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 Lucas Souto trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Julián López 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Fernando Román will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Defensa y Justicia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Defensa y Justicia 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 Damián Fernández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Defensa y Justicia, another week without a signature from César Pérez.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Facundo Correa after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Something was said to Fernando Román and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Beaten 1‑4 by Unión de Santa Fe, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Up for the corner, and Éver Banega delivers — 7.25
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Éver Banega scored, was marked 7.25, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Defensa y Justicia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑4, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Aarón Molinas
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Aarón Molinas has come out of that comparison in the side, and Defensa y Justicia have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Defensa y Justicia told Julián López something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Defensa y Justicia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Juan Manuel Gutiérrez 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 Damián Fernández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Marked 8.14 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Facundo Correa on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Defensa y Justicia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Going 2 down does something to a side, and what it usually does is finish them. Not here. Defensa y Justicia rebuilt the afternoon goal by goal, and Deportivo Riestra had no answer to any of it.
Position 14 and 7 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
9 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Deportivo Riestra were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Defensa y Justicia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Up for the corner, and Julián López delivers — 7.20
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Julián López scored, was marked 7.20, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Defensa y Justicia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Defensa y Justicia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Fernando Román has agreed terms with Unión de Santa Fe for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next 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 Defensa y Justicia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
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.
3 goals in 9 games at San Martín SJ — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Defensa y Justicia 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 Defensa y Justicia. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Damián Fernández 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mauro Ruggiero and Defensa y Justicia agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Facundo Correa after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Defensa y Justicia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Lucas Souto 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.
Juan Manuel Gutiérrez 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Samuel Lucero is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Damián Fernández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
“I watch every Defensa y Justicia game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Zhejiang FC runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Darío Cáceres will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Defensa y Justicia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Juan Manuel Gutiérrez 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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Facundo Correa after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer 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 Defensa y Justicia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Damián Fernández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Thiago Rojas and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
12 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.
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Facundo Correa was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Defensa y Justicia dressing room was either.
Every touch weighed, every quote parsed, every mistake replayed. Some players grow into that; some are quietly finished by it; nobody knows which until afterwards.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Lucas Souto
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Damián Fernández is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Defensa y Justicia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Cavese have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mateo Aguiar. The answer from Defensa y Justicia has not changed — yet.
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Samuel Lucero
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Samuel Lucero has come out of that comparison in the side, and Defensa y Justicia have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Julián López trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The offer from Zamalek for Lucas Souto 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.
Juan Manuel Gutiérrez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Éver Banega 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leandro Fernández, and the manager let it.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Facundo Correa was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Defensa y Justicia dressing room was either.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Vélez? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
In brief
The dugoutJulián López asks for a word with the manager
Out, 0‑2 to Gimnasia y Esgrima, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
The offer from Carpi for Mateo Aguiar was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Darío Cáceres will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Defensa y Justicia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Defensa y Justicia has to find a result from somewhere.
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.
Juan Manuel Gutiérrez 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. Éver Banega is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Banfield will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Joaquín Molina has pre-agreed a move to Defensa y Justicia, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Sevilla paid $920.0K and Defensa y Justicia took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Defensa y Justicia 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 Damián Fernández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Beaten 4 times, with 4 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
Juan Manuel Gutiérrez 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. Éver Banega 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Facundo Correa after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Éver Banega and Defensa y Justicia agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Damián Fernández 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 name of Lautaro Amadé has come up in conversations Defensa y Justicia were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Defensa y Justicia, another week without a signature from Aarón Molinas.