From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Aug 2026
The knee: Andres Gomez out for 25 days
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Plaza Colonia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Tomás Escalante
“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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 7.57. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Match29 Aug 2026
A 1‑1 draw with River Plate leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Fernando Gomez after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout31 Aug 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 Diego Villalba is on it.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Looking ahead31 Aug 2026
Penarol next, and one man in the Plaza Colonia dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
2 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Andres Gomez
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Plaza Colonia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match19 Aug 2026
Liverpool Montevideo go through and Plaza Colonia go home, 0‑0 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Match22 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Plaza Colonia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Máximo Lorenzi 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 ratings24 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 dugout24 Aug 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
7.44, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Plaza Colonia had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Mateo Pisciottano 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Andres Gomez
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Plaza Colonia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Joaquín García at 19 — 8.00
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Joaquín García did not need any: 8.00, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad17 Aug 2026
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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
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 Plaza Colonia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Lucas Carrizo has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 17, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Fernando Gomez on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Aug 2026
There were 15 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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A brace, and Michael López takes the afternoon — 8.07
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Michael López provided it, and the 8.07 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Lucas Carrizo 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.
Match8 Aug 2026
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Michael Covea
“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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Camilo Perez 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 De Arrascaeta 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
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Camilo Aguirre is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Alvaro Rivera is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Aug 2026
0‑3 to Montevideo City Torque, 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
309 appearances across 15 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and Plaza Colonia know exactly what they have.
Market3 Aug 2026
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Plaza Colonia can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tomás Escalante and Plaza Colonia agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Lucas Carrizo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Tomás Escalante
“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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Máximo Lorenzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Plaza Colonia 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
24 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.