From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match13 Sep 2027
12 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Richard Franco and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Rodrigo Burgos 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 dugout13 Sep 2027
“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 dugout13 Sep 2027
Luis Romero gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Luis Romero is on it.
Squad13 Sep 2027
The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at General Caballero says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces6 Sep 2027
Anger at General Caballero spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market6 Sep 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rodrigo Alvarenga will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around General Caballero the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad6 Sep 2027
20 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at General Caballero this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Verdún was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad6 Sep 2027
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Marcelino Ñamandú is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Iván Tello's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
Ronald Acuña has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at General Caballero will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout30 Aug 2027
Iván Benítez: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” General Caballero have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad30 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at General Caballero this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Rodrigo Burgos 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout23 Aug 2027
José Ramírez: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” General Caballero have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Marcelino Ñamandú 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Rodrigo Burgos 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Aug 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Matías Verdún
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. General Caballero lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match16 Aug 2027
Every point is an argument now for General Caballero
Position 11 and 12 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Richard Franco and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Richard Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Richard Martínez, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
Luis Romero has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at General Caballero will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Aug 2027
Matías Verdún damages knee ligaments — 21 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
General Caballero asked and Sportivo Trinidense said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad9 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at General Caballero this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Burgos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Iván Tello's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
Ronald Acuña gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ronald Acuña is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Aug 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Matías Verdún
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. General Caballero lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” General Caballero may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Richard Franco 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Rodrigo Burgos 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.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
General Caballero asked and Boston River said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad2 Aug 2027
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Carlos Vera Benítez 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Matías Verdún
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. General Caballero lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
Richard Prieto: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” General Caballero have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Richard Franco and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at General Caballero training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Richard Martínez 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.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
General Caballero asked and Colón said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad26 Jul 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Oscar Caceres and General Caballero agree another 4 years.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at General Caballero, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
Aldo Pineda has been promised minutes
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 Aldo Pineda has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Matías Verdún
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. General Caballero lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match19 Jul 2027
Every point is an argument now for General Caballero
Position 11 and 12 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.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
The deal with Nacional is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Richard Franco and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Burgos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
A loan enquiry to Boston River: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Richard Prieto, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
Luis Romero has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at General Caballero will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
General Caballero and Cerro Porteno have settled on $360.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
General Caballero asked and Sportivo Trinidense said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
$360.0K was the most the club would pay and Nacional 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Arnaldo Giménez 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 Jul 2027
Words at General Caballero training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Burgos 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Oscar Caceres 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Federico Cubas 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Derlis Lopez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market12 Jul 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Angel Balbuena 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Jul 2027
9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match3 Jul 2027
0‑3 against Libertad, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match5 Jul 2027
Position 11 on 12 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Cerro Porteno; General Caballero go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Match3 Jul 2027
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.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
$360.0K on the table at Nacional. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Richard Franco and General Caballero agree another 2 years.
Squad5 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at General Caballero this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Matías Verdún 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Jun 2027
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. General Caballero lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
The clubs have shaken hands with Sportivo Trinidense; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market28 Jun 2027
The bid was some way short and General Caballero did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
The deal with Cerro Porteno is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Match26 Jun 2027
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around General Caballero are no longer polite ones.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Richard Franco and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at General Caballero training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Burgos 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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. All Boys have kept their man, and General Caballero go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Richard Martínez, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Jun 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Bruno Fernández
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. General Caballero lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match21 Jun 2027
12 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
Richard Franco, 35, rolls back the years — 8.23
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.23 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” General Caballero may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Richard Franco and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Burgos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Boston River have kept their man, and General Caballero go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
Iván Benítez gets it from the manager
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Jun 2027
Bruno Fernández damages knee ligaments — 30 days out
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.
Match12 Jun 2027
0‑3 against Olimpia, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad14 Jun 2027
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.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at River Plate is saying, and nobody at General Caballero is enjoying the guessing.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
General Caballero asked and Sportivo Trinidense said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad14 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at General Caballero this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market14 Jun 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Jorge Sanabria 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.
Looking ahead14 Jun 2027
General Diaz next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
Iván Benítez left out for the big one
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Iván Benítez will call it something else in private.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Jun 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Bruno Fernández
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. General Caballero lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match5 Jun 2027
Beaten 0‑3 by Sportivo Luqueno, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market7 Jun 2027
“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 General Caballero, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Richard Franco was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at General Caballero training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Burgos 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 dugout7 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Arnaldo Giménez
“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 Jun 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” José Ramírez and General Caballero agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
Nobody left the General Caballero dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 May 2027
Bruno Fernández damages knee ligaments — 44 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 44 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Richard Franco 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.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad31 May 2027
Rodrigo Burgos 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 dugout31 May 2027
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at General Caballero pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Nobody on the pitch touched Matías Verdún
7.94, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. General Caballero had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout31 May 2027
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Jose Gomez on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout31 May 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. General Caballero told Kevin Martínez something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 May 2027
52 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. General Caballero lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match22 May 2027
Beaten 0‑4 by Cerro Porteno, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match24 May 2027
Position 11, 8 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad24 May 2027
Rodrigo Burgos 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 dugout24 May 2027
“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.
Boardroom24 May 2027
Nobody left the General Caballero dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout24 May 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Jose Gomez after 0‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad24 May 2027
One yellow too many, and a match watched from the stand. The most avoidable absence in football, and General Caballero will feel it on Saturday.
Squad24 May 2027
Beaten 4 times, 4 saves, and an afternoon that will go on his record whether it was his fault or the defence’s. It is the quiet unfairness of the position.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 May 2027
14 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad17 May 2027
Bruno Fernández damages knee ligaments — 60 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 60 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Marcelino Ñamandú and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 May 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Burgos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Iván Benítez
“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.
Match15 May 2027
0‑1 to Nacional, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout17 May 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 0‑1 Jose Gomez left the room before anybody could ask which.
Looking ahead17 May 2027
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Cerro Porteno.
The dugout17 May 2027
The plan did not have a place for Rodrigo Burgos
Nobody at General Caballero is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 May 2027
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. General Caballero lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Nobody could get near Iván Tello
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match8 May 2027
It had gone 11 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Match8 May 2027
8 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Player ratings10 May 2027
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.39 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad10 May 2027
Richard Franco 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Rodrigo Burgos 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 dugout10 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Arnaldo Giménez
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 May 2027
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. General Caballero lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match1 May 2027
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around General Caballero are no longer polite ones.
Match1 May 2027
Beaten 0‑3 by Guarani, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad3 May 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match1 May 2027
7 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad3 May 2027
Richard Franco 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.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Nobody could get near Iván Tello
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Looking ahead3 May 2027
Two sides from the bottom of the table, three points, and an afternoon that will be described afterwards as a relegation decider by whoever loses it.
Boardroom3 May 2027
Nobody left the General Caballero dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Bruno Fernández
83 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. General Caballero lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match24 Apr 2027
10 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match26 Apr 2027
Position 11, 5 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match24 Apr 2027
6 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Richard Franco and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at General Caballero training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Burgos 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.
Match24 Apr 2027
Sol de America left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“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.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Apr 2027
91 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. General Caballero lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match17 Apr 2027
No end in sight to General Caballero's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at General Caballero has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad19 Apr 2027
9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad19 Apr 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marcos Urán and General Caballero agree another 2 years.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Richard Franco and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match17 Apr 2027
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match17 Apr 2027
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match19 Apr 2027
5 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout19 Apr 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 1‑3 Jose Gomez left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Bruno Fernández
99 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. General Caballero lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match10 Apr 2027
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Richard Franco 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.
Match10 Apr 2027
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at General Caballero can tell you which week it ends in.
Match10 Apr 2027
4 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Match10 Apr 2027
0‑2 to Sportivo Trinidense, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of César Carrizo
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Apr 2027
107 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. General Caballero lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match3 Apr 2027
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around General Caballero are no longer polite ones.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A muscle injury and 18 days out for Arnaldo Giménez
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. General Caballero will quote 18 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad5 Apr 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at General Caballero this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at General Caballero training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Burgos 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.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Match3 Apr 2027
General Diaz left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Iván Benítez gets it from the manager
“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 dugout5 Apr 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 Mar 2027
114 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. General Caballero lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match27 Mar 2027
A 0‑4 beating by Olimpia was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match29 Mar 2027
5 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match27 Mar 2027
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around General Caballero are no longer polite ones.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Marcelino Ñamandú and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at General Caballero training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Burgos 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 dugout29 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of José Ramírez
“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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
The medical room confirms 34 days on the sidelines for Luis Romero, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Boardroom29 Mar 2027
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Bruno Fernández
121 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. General Caballero lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match20 Mar 2027
No end in sight to General Caballero's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at General Caballero has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Richard Franco and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match20 Mar 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aldo Pineda, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad22 Mar 2027
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Mar 2027
128 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. General Caballero lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 34. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad15 Mar 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match13 Mar 2027
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around General Caballero are no longer polite ones.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Richard Franco 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 Mar 2027
Words at General Caballero training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Burgos 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of César Carrizo
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Boardroom15 Mar 2027
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Mar 2027
Bruno Fernández damages knee ligaments — 137 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 137 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match6 Mar 2027
A 0‑8 beating by Cerro Porteno was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match3 Mar 2027
1‑3 against Sol de America, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Luis Romero could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 7.52
Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 7.52, 1 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Matías Verdún commits to General Caballero for another 4 years.
Match6 Mar 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between General Caballero and Cerro Porteno, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Bruno Fernández
144 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. General Caballero lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad1 Mar 2027
24 days out for Richard Escobar after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. General Caballero will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match27 Feb 2027
Beaten 0‑6 by Nacional, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad1 Mar 2027
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad1 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at General Caballero this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match27 Feb 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between General Caballero and Nacional, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“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.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout1 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 0‑6 Jose Gomez left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Feb 2027
Diego Chamorro damages knee ligaments — 137 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 137 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
31 days out for Richard Escobar after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. General Caballero will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
José Parra runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Richard Franco and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Verdún was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aldo Pineda, and the manager let it.
Match20 Feb 2027
A 1‑0 win over River Plate, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Marked 7.92. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Jose Gomez could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Diego Chamorro
144 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. General Caballero lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Richard Escobar out for 38 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason General Caballero will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Rodrigo Burgos and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match13 Feb 2027
1‑3 to Guarani, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Arnaldo Giménez, and the manager let it.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Jose Gomez to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager makes Aldo Pineda a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at General Caballero. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Diego Chamorro
151 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. General Caballero lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Richard Escobar out for 47 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason General Caballero will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad8 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at General Caballero this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
The game went through Ronald Acuña — 6.61
Marked 6.61 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
A capacity of 209 on the plans. A decision judged twenty years from now, by people who were not in the room and will have opinions anyway.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rodrigo Alvarenga and General Caballero agree another 1 years.
Match6 Feb 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market8 Feb 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at General Caballero, another week without a signature from José Ramírez.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Feb 2027
158 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. General Caballero lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad1 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at General Caballero this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Richard Escobar out for 63 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason General Caballero will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Richard Franco and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Matías Verdún 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 70 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Richard Franco 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 dugout18 Jan 2027
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Arnaldo Giménez plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Richard Escobar out for 79 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason General Caballero will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Richard Franco 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at General Caballero training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Verdún 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
General Caballero asked and Sportivo Luqueno said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market11 Jan 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Carlos Gonzalez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad11 Jan 2027
8 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Richard Escobar out for 86 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason General Caballero will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad4 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at General Caballero this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Temperley have kept their man, and General Caballero go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 94 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market28 Dec 2026
“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 General Caballero, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Rodrigo Burgos 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.
Transfer targets28 Dec 2026
A loan enquiry to Temperley: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets28 Dec 2026
A loan enquiry to Sportivo Luqueno: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Luis Romero and General Caballero agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
101 days out for Richard Escobar after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. General Caballero will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Transfer targets21 Dec 2026
Everything agreed with Cerro Porteno, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Rodrigo Burgos and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets21 Dec 2026
The offer went to Olimpia 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.
Transfer targets21 Dec 2026
Olimpia wanted more than $170.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at General Caballero training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Verdún 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Richard Franco, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Richard Prieto and General Caballero agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market21 Dec 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 108 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets14 Dec 2026
The offer went to Olimpia 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Richard Franco 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.
Transfer targets14 Dec 2026
$63.0K was the most the club would pay and Olimpia 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Matías Verdún 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.
Market14 Dec 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Edgar Acosta 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.
Market14 Dec 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Fernando Caceres has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Aldo Pineda
“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.
Market14 Dec 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Richard Escobar out for 116 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason General Caballero will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad7 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at General Caballero this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets7 Dec 2026
$63.0K on the table at Olimpia. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets7 Dec 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olimpia have kept their man, and General Caballero go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at General Caballero training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mauro Caballero 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
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.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market7 Dec 2026
Paulo Lugo is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at General Caballero has been clear about where Paulo Lugo stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
Iván Benítez breaks a bone — 104 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 104 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Richard Franco and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at General Caballero training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Verdún 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
111 days out for Iván Benítez after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. General Caballero will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Richard Franco 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Wilfrido Rivas for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. General Caballero will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
118 days out for Iván Benítez after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. General Caballero will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Richard Franco 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at General Caballero training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mauro Caballero 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
40 days out for Arnaldo Giménez after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. General Caballero will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Arnaldo Giménez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Rodrigo Burgos 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Nov 2026
47 days out for Arnaldo Giménez after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. General Caballero will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Rodrigo Burgos 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at General Caballero training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Verdún 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Oct 2026
54 days out for Arnaldo Giménez after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. General Caballero will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Rodrigo Burgos and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Verdún was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
62 days out for Arnaldo Giménez after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. General Caballero will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Richard Franco 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Rodrigo Burgos 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at General Caballero this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at General Caballero training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Verdún 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Arnaldo Giménez is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
Richard Franco and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Verdún was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Oct 2026
22 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
29 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Richard Franco and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at General Caballero training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Burgos 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at General Caballero this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Verdún was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
Ronald Acuña pulls a muscle — 15 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Rodrigo Burgos 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at General Caballero training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Verdún 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
Rodrigo Burgos 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Mauro Caballero 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
22 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Aug 2026
The medical room confirms 60 days on the sidelines for Richard Escobar, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Richard Franco 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
Matías Verdún 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Aug 2026
Richard Franco 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Matías Verdún 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 dugout24 Aug 2026
Ronald Acuña gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ronald Acuña is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Aug 2026
3 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Match12 Aug 2026
Sol de America ended it 1‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Age has not caught Ronald Acuña yet — 7.94
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.94 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at General Caballero this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Aug 2026
Level with 116 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon General Caballero had all but put away. Sol de America will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
It was his to settle and he did not settle it. A long walk back to the halfway line, and a considerably longer week.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Jose Gomez chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
Richard Franco and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Verdún was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
Sportivo Luqueno will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Hugo Gaona has pre-agreed a move to General Caballero, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Adrian Cardozo 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Cristian Santa Cruz 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Carlos Barrios 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Luis Romero 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
21 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
Matías Verdún arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Matías Verdún has, at General Caballero, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Hugo Zaracho commits to General Caballero for another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Arnaldo Giménez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Verdún was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at General Caballero, another week without a signature from Matías Verdún.
Market3 Aug 2026
Manuel Peralta Salinas is 38 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.