6 Jun 2027
Sunday
Process
44 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

31 May 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Tomás Escalante puts it in writing

“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 The request is on a desk at Plaza Colonia, and it is not being withdrawn.

Loan watch

The goals keep arriving from Álvaro López’s exile

22 goals in 16 games at Albion — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Plaza Colonia updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.

The dugout

Facundo Píriz: 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.” Plaza Colonia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Joaquín García has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Plaza Colonia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Words exchanged at Plaza Colonia

Máximo Lorenzi 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.

Match

Plaza Colonia get the job done against Rentistas

A 1‑0 win over Rentistas, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Squad

A row about effort at Plaza Colonia

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valentín Amoroso was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

The pass was always on for Michael López

Chances created: 13. Somebody has to open a door before anybody can walk through it, and he spent the afternoon opening doors.

Player ratings

Nobody on the pitch touched Nicolás González

7.85, 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.

In brief

  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • The dugout A promise honoured for Michael López
  • The dugout Santiago Ruiz gets it from the manager
Back issues
43 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

24 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Valentín Amoroso beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 34. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Loan watch

The goals keep arriving from Álvaro López’s exile

20 goals in 15 games at Albion — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Plaza Colonia updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.

Squad

A row about effort at Plaza Colonia

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Plaza Colonia

Facundo Píriz was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Segundo Pachamé

“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 dugout

Joaquín Silva 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 Joaquín Silva is on it.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Fernando Gomez on the draw

“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.

Match

Plaza Colonia and Tacuarembo cancel each other out

Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Tacuarembo came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.

Looking ahead

Haibrany Ruiz Díaz faces his old club

Rentistas 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.

In brief

42 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

17 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Loan watch

The goals keep arriving from Álvaro López’s exile

18 goals in 14 games at Albion — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Plaza Colonia updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.

Squad

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Plaza Colonia

Matías Velázquez 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.

Player ratings

Valentín Amoroso beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Player ratings

Michael López stands above it all

Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.68 on the card, and the Plaza Colonia support went home talking about one name.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Matías Velázquez

“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.

Match

Michael López rescues a point for Plaza Colonia

It needed Michael López to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Colon, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.

Market

No place for Juan Pablo Hernández in the plan

“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Juan Pablo Hernández has his answer from Plaza Colonia; what he does with it is the next window’s story.

The dugout

Pablo García knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Plaza Colonia, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

41 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

10 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Nicolás González asks to leave Plaza Colonia

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Loan watch

16 goals on loan for Álvaro López

13 appearances at Albion and the goals keep coming. Plaza Colonia are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.

Match

A bad afternoon for Plaza Colonia against Cerrito

0‑1 to Cerrito, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

Valentín Amoroso 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.

Match

Plaza Colonia at the halfway mark

Half the programme played, position 5, 21 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.

Player ratings

Valentín Amoroso beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Mateo Pisciottano signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mateo Pisciottano commits to Plaza Colonia for another 3 years.

The dugout

Fernando Gomez answers for it

“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.

Market

No place for Matías Velázquez in the plan

“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Matías Velázquez has his answer from Plaza Colonia; what he does with it is the next window’s story.

In brief

40 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

3 May 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Joaquín Silva asks to leave Plaza Colonia

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Match

Plaza Colonia win it in stoppage time

The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 94th minute. Uruguay Montevideo will replay every second of the added time for a week.

Player ratings

Both of them Nicolás González's — 8.99

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.99, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

The dugout

Matías Velázquez keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Plaza Colonia may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Match

Nobody wants to play Plaza Colonia right now

3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.

Market

Only the photograph left for Joaquín García

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joaquín García will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Plaza Colonia the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Loan watch

Álvaro López keeps scoring at Albion

12 appearances away from home and 15 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.

Match

Plaza Colonia find a way past Uruguay Montevideo

Uruguay Montevideo made Plaza Colonia work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Squad

Appearance number 200 for Nicolás González

200 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.

In brief

39 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

26 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Tomás Escalante hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Plaza Colonia can pretend not to have heard.

Player ratings

A brace, and Michael Covea takes the afternoon — 8.48

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Michael Covea provided it, and the 8.48 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Squad

A falling-out at Plaza Colonia

Máximo Lorenzi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Plaza Colonia find a way past Artigas

Artigas made Plaza Colonia work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Loan watch

14 goals on loan for Álvaro López

11 appearances at Albion and the goals keep coming. Plaza Colonia are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Diego Villalba

Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Words at Plaza Colonia training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Segundo Pachamé 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 dugout

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.” Fernando Gomez kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.

The dugout

Joaquín Silva has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Plaza Colonia 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.

In brief

38 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

19 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

The terraces

Anger at Plaza Colonia 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.

Match

Plaza Colonia tear Rampla Juniors apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑0 against Rampla Juniors, and it could have been more.

Player ratings

Both of them Nicolás González's — 8.87

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.87, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings

Michael Covea, 33, rolls back the years — 8.13

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.13 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Squad

A falling-out at Plaza Colonia

Máximo Lorenzi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Plaza Colonia settle it inside twenty minutes

3 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Rampla Juniors spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Pablo García at his very best

Marked 8.47. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Plaza Colonia.

Squad

Words at Plaza Colonia training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valentín Amoroso 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 ratings

Ninety minutes of Tomás Escalante at his very best

Marked 8.03. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Plaza Colonia.

In brief

37 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

12 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

A 2-goal lead gone for Plaza Colonia

It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Deportivo Maldonado kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Plaza Colonia will be asked about the last half hour all week.

Market

Nicolás González puts it in writing

“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 Plaza Colonia, and it is not being withdrawn.

Player ratings

Valentín Amoroso was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 26. 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Plaza Colonia

Valentín Amoroso 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.

Market

One of our own: Ignacio Coates joins the Plaza Colonia first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ignacio Coates is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Nicolás González at his very best

Marked 8.24. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Plaza Colonia.

Squad

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.

Match

Plaza Colonia and Deportivo Maldonado take a point apiece

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 dugout

Fernando Gomez on the point

“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Fernando Gomez after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.

In brief

36 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

5 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Joaquín Silva hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Plaza Colonia can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Joaquín Silva

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.

Market

Joaquín García has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Plaza Colonia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Real improvement from Cristopher Rumino at Plaza Colonia

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Cristopher Rumino is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Tempers go at Plaza Colonia

Máximo Lorenzi 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.

Match

Fenix take the points off Plaza Colonia

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Segundo Pachamé 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 dugout

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 Fernando Gomez left the room before anybody could ask which.

Loan watch

9 goals on loan for Álvaro López

8 appearances at Albion and the goals keep coming. Plaza Colonia are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.

In brief

35 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

29 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Tomás Escalante asks to leave Plaza Colonia

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Match

Nicolás González’s goal not enough for Plaza Colonia

Nicolás González scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Danubio, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

Player ratings

Valentín Amoroso runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout

Joaquín Silva 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.

Player ratings

Diego Villalba did the work nobody counts — 7.24

11 combined actions and 7.24. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.

Squad

Valentín Amoroso 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.

Squad

Joaquín Silva reaches 100 appearances

100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.

The dugout

Fernando Gomez: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

Squad

Mateo Pisciottano in a row with a teammate

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.

In brief

34 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

22 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

The terraces

The mood at Plaza Colonia has turned into something else

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.

Match

The cup run ends for Plaza Colonia

0‑1 against Racing, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.

The dugout

Pablo García keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Plaza Colonia may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Player ratings

Máximo Lorenzi pops up at the right end — 7.84

7.84, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.

Match

Plaza Colonia find a way past La Luz

La Luz made Plaza Colonia work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Squad

Máximo Lorenzi 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.

Player ratings

Tomás Escalante beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

The dugout

Michael López 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 dugout

Fernando Gomez has his say

“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 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.

In brief

33 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

15 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Valentín Amoroso leads the rout of Atenas

3‑0, and Valentín Amoroso took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Plaza Colonia tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Market

Nicolás González puts it in writing

“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 Plaza Colonia, and it is not being withdrawn.

The dugout

Miqueas Redín says Plaza Colonia went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

The dugout

No hiding place for Nicolás González

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicolás González, and the manager let it.

Match

Plaza Colonia settle it inside twenty minutes

2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Atenas spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.

Squad

Appearance number 200 for Michael Covea

200 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.

Player ratings

Valentín Amoroso in the eights

A performance of 8.27 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Squad

Máximo Lorenzi 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Plaza Colonia

Matías Velázquez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

In brief

32 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

8 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Joaquín Silva asks to leave Plaza Colonia

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Only the photograph left for Joaquín García

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joaquín García will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Plaza Colonia the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Michael Covea stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Michael Covea and Plaza Colonia agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Player ratings

Valentín Amoroso runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Tempers go at Plaza Colonia

Máximo Lorenzi 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.

Market

Marcelo Silva steps up from the Plaza Colonia academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Marcelo Silva has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Squad

Words at Plaza Colonia training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Valentín Amoroso 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.

Squad

Máximo Lorenzi makes it 100

100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Facundo Píriz

“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.

In brief

31 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

1 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Tomás Escalante puts it in writing

“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 Plaza Colonia, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Pablo García signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Pablo García and Plaza Colonia agree another 3 years.

Player ratings

Valentín Amoroso beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Valentín Amoroso in a row with a teammate

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.

Match

Rentistas take the points off Plaza Colonia

Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

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.

The dugout

Fernando Gomez faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Fernando Gomez after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Matías Velázquez

“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.

Squad

Segundo Pachamé slips down the pecking order

The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Segundo Pachamé is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.

In brief

30 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

22 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Plaza Colonia board

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.

Match

Plaza Colonia run riot against Tacuarembo

3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Player ratings

Valentín Amoroso was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 32. 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.

Player ratings

Both of them Pablo García's — 8.42

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.42, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Squad

A falling-out at Plaza Colonia

Máximo Lorenzi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Pablo García

“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.

Match

The drought breaks for Plaza Colonia

5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Tacuarembo were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Facundo Kidd

Marked 8.00 — 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.

Squad

Segundo Pachamé 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.

In brief

29 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

15 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

The wait goes on for Plaza Colonia

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Plaza Colonia

Máximo Lorenzi 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.

Squad

Valentín Amoroso 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.

Squad

9 new faces, and Plaza Colonia are still learning each other

A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.

Player ratings

Valentín Amoroso was the difference for Plaza Colonia

Marked 7.51. 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 dugout

No hiding place for Segundo Pachamé

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Segundo Pachamé, and the manager let it.

Match

Plaza Colonia and Colon take a point apiece

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 dugout

Joaquín Silva knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Joaquín Silva trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Fernando Gomez on the draw

“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.

In brief

28 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

8 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The dugout

Michael López says Plaza Colonia went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Market

Eyes on Alex Bruno again

The phone has started ringing about Alex Bruno again, and this time the name on the line is Shonan Bellmare. Plaza Colonia are listening politely and promising nothing.

Market

Joaquín García is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Plaza Colonia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Tempers go at Plaza Colonia

Valentín Amoroso 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Plaza Colonia

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.

Market

Plaza Colonia buy the years ahead of Cristopher Rumino

He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.

Squad

Diego Huamán signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Diego Huamán and Plaza Colonia agree another 3 years.

The dugout

Joaquín Silva knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Plaza Colonia, and both men came out saying it was fine.

The dugout

When it matters, Diego Villalba plays

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.

In brief

27 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

1 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Ezequías Redín out for 15 days

15 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Plaza Colonia

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.

The dugout

No hiding place for Facundo Kidd

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Facundo Kidd, and the manager let it.

Market

Facundo Píriz told to find a new club

“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Facundo Píriz has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Plaza Colonia.

The dugout

Joaquín Silva has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Plaza Colonia 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.

Squad

A step back for Gianluca Motta at Plaza Colonia

Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.

In brief

26 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

25 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

The terraces

Anger at Plaza Colonia 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.

Squad

Ezequías Redín damages knee ligaments — 23 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.

Market

Alex Bruno asks to leave Plaza Colonia

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Plaza Colonia say no — this time

The offer from Pacos de Ferreira for Alex Bruno 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.

The dugout

Tomás Escalante 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.

Squad

Valentín Amoroso 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Plaza Colonia

Matías Velázquez 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 dugout

The manager has not finished forgetting Michael Covea'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.

Squad

Diego Villalba has had enough of the bench

“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Plaza Colonia will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.

In brief

25 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

18 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Ezequías Redín out for 30 days

30 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.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Xavier Biscayzacú

Plaza Colonia asked and Defensor Sporting said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad

Words exchanged at Plaza Colonia

Valentín Amoroso 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Nicolás González

“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.

Squad

A row about effort at Plaza Colonia

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.

Squad

Plaza Colonia are still strangers to each other

8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.

The dugout

Tomás Escalante knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Plaza Colonia, and both men came out saying it was fine.

The dugout

Segundo Pachamé 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 Segundo Pachamé is on it.

Market

Diego Ruiz Díaz is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Plaza Colonia has been clear about where Diego Ruiz Díaz stands, which is more than many ever get.

In brief

24 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

11 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Ezequías Redín out for 37 days

37 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.

Market

Nicolás González wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Plaza Colonia hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Market

Joaquín García has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Plaza Colonia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Words exchanged at Plaza Colonia

Alex Bruno 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.

Squad

Diego Villalba signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Diego Villalba and Plaza Colonia agree another 3 years.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Diego González

Plaza Colonia asked and San Luis said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

The dugout

Diego Villalba 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Plaza Colonia

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Segundo Pachamé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

Plaza Colonia put Alex Bruno up for sale

The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Alex Bruno may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.

In brief

23 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

4 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Boardroom

It is over: Plaza Colonia are relegated

The arithmetic ran out, and everybody could see it coming from a distance. The hard summer starts now, and next season's fixtures will be full of unfamiliar names.

Squad

Ezequías Redín damages knee ligaments — 45 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 45 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.

Market

Segundo Pachamé asks to leave Plaza Colonia

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Squad

A move Gianluca Motta would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Gianluca Motta is living that version at Plaza Colonia, and it tends to show in the first month.

Market

Tomás Escalante wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Plaza Colonia hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Michael Covea in a row with a teammate

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.

Transfer targets

No deal for Rodrigo Novo at that price

Plaza Colonia offered $13.0K; Wanderers said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.

Transfer targets

River Plate tell Plaza Colonia: Lucas Martínez Quarta is not for sale

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.

Squad

A row about effort at Plaza Colonia

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Valentín Amoroso was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

22 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

28 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Ezequías Redín

53 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.

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Plaza Colonia board

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.

Market

Joaquín Silva hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Plaza Colonia can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Terms done: Joaquín García is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Miramar Misiones waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Plaza Colonia is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Transfer targets

An offer of $13.0K for Rodrigo Novo

Plaza Colonia have gone to Wanderers 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.

Squad

Patricio Gregorio signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Patricio Gregorio commits to Plaza Colonia for another 3 years.

Boardroom

Emiliano González will join Plaza Colonia for nothing

The paperwork is done long before the player is. Emiliano González has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Plaza Colonia have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.

Transfer targets

Plaza Colonia rebuffed over Ivo Kestler

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tigre have kept their man, and Plaza Colonia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Máximo Lorenzi 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.

In brief

21 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

21 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Ezequías Redín

61 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.

Market

Kevin Morgan has said yes to Aragua

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Plaza Colonia have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Squad

Patricio Gregorio signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Patricio Gregorio and Plaza Colonia agree another 3 years.

Transfer targets

River Plate tell Plaza Colonia: Francisco González Metilli is not for sale

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.

Squad

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.

Squad

No place for Patricio Gregorio in the new shape

He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Plaza Colonia are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.

The dugout

Joaquín Silva asks for a word with the manager

“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.

The dugout

When it matters, Segundo Pachamé plays

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.

Market

The Joaquín Silva talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Plaza Colonia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

20 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

14 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Lucas Carrizo sold, and an era ends

$2.0M from Cerro Largo for Lucas Carrizo. Money is money, but the dressing room has lost the man it looked to.

Squad

The knee: Ezequías Redín out for 68 days

68 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.

The terraces

Plaza Colonia sell a favourite for $2.0M

The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Lucas Carrizo was one of the reasons people came, and $2.0M does not replace that by itself.

The dugout

Mateo Pisciottano: 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.” Plaza Colonia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Nicolás González out for 14 days

The medical room confirms 14 days on the sidelines for Nicolás González, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Market

Plaza Colonia get their man

The chase for Santiago Ruiz ended with $40.0K changing hands and Cerrito out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.

Boardroom

Plaza Colonia beat the market to Ignacio Durante from Racing

Racing will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Ignacio Durante has pre-agreed a move to Plaza Colonia, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.

Transfer targets

Plaza Colonia rebuffed over Fabricio Bustos

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. River Plate have kept their man, and Plaza Colonia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Market

Kevin Morgan attracts admirers

The name of Kevin Morgan has come up in conversations Plaza Colonia were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

In brief

19 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

7 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Ezequías Redín damages knee ligaments — 76 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 76 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.

Market

Eyes on Lucas Carrizo again

The phone has started ringing about Lucas Carrizo again, and this time the name on the line is Cerro Largo. Plaza Colonia are listening politely and promising nothing.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Santiago Ruiz

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Plaza Colonia have done the hard part with Cerrito, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Transfer targets

No deal for Cristian González at that price

Plaza Colonia offered $74.0K; Cerrito said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.

Boardroom

Plaza Colonia beat the market to Elías Bentancor from Racing

Racing will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Elías Bentancor has pre-agreed a move to Plaza Colonia, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.

Squad

Máximo Lorenzi 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.

Market

No place for Segundo Pachamé in the plan

“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Segundo Pachamé has his answer from Plaza Colonia; what he does with it is the next window’s story.

The dugout

When it matters, Joaquín Silva plays

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 dugout

Tomás Escalante asks for a word with the manager

“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.

In brief

18 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

30 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Ezequías Redín out for 83 days

83 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.

The terraces

The mood at Plaza Colonia has turned into something else

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.

Market

Lucas Carrizo has his eye on Europe

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.

Squad

A row about effort at Plaza Colonia

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Plaza Colonia

Matías Velázquez 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 dugout

The manager has not finished forgetting Michael Covea'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.

In brief

17 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Ezequías Redín damages knee ligaments — 91 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 91 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.

Squad

A muscle injury and 15 days out for Pablo Adorno

The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Plaza Colonia will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.

Squad

Words exchanged at Plaza Colonia

Máximo Lorenzi 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.

In brief

16 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

16 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Juan Pablo Hernández hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Plaza Colonia can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Plaza Colonia count the cost of losing Nicolás González

44 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Squad

Tempers go at Plaza Colonia

Lucas Carrizo 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.

Squad

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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Pablo García

“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 dugout

Segundo Pachamé 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 Segundo Pachamé is on it.

In brief

15 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Lucas Carrizo in a row with a teammate

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.

Squad

A row about effort at Plaza Colonia

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Segundo Pachamé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

When it matters, Joaquín Silva plays

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.

In brief

14 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

The terraces

The mood at Plaza Colonia has turned into something else

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.

The dugout

Michael Covea is still being punished for one mistake

Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.

The dugout

No hiding place for Facundo Píriz

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Facundo Píriz, and the manager let it.

Squad

Joaquín Silva loses the armband

The captaincy has been taken off Joaquín Silva. Plaza Colonia will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.

The dugout

Lucas Carrizo knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lucas Carrizo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

Modibo Traoré has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Plaza Colonia 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.

In brief

13 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Lucas Carrizo says Plaza Colonia went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

Facundo Moreira 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. Facundo Moreira has, at Plaza Colonia, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Squad

Máximo Lorenzi 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.

Market

Plaza Colonia buy the years ahead of Facundo Moreira

He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.

Squad

The formation has left Facundo Moreira behind

Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Plaza Colonia will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Mateo Pisciottano

“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.

In brief

12 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Tomás Escalante: 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.” Plaza Colonia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Modibo Traoré asks to leave Plaza Colonia

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Squad

Plaza Colonia count the cost of losing Nicolás González

74 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Boardroom

Plaza Colonia agree a free transfer for Diago Fernández

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.

The dugout

Pablo García 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.

Squad

Segundo Pachamé 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 dugout

Segundo Pachamé has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Plaza Colonia 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.

The dugout

Michael López knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Michael López trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Market

The Joaquín Silva question follows Plaza Colonia around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Joaquín Silva’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

11 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Lucas Carrizo puts it in writing

“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 Plaza Colonia, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Tomás Escalante signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Tomás Escalante commits to Plaza Colonia for another 4 years.

Market

Plaza Colonia promote Alejandro Acosta from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Alejandro 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.

Market

One of our own: Manuel Silva joins the Plaza Colonia first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Manuel Silva is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Squad

Tempers go at Plaza Colonia

Matías Velázquez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

The dugout

Joaquín Silva has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Plaza Colonia 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.

The dugout

Tomás Escalante knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Plaza Colonia, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

Lucas Carrizo linked with a move away

The name of Lucas Carrizo keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Plaza Colonia say nothing, which says plenty.

Squad

Michael Covea wants to know why he earns less

Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Plaza Colonia have no good answer.

In brief

10 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Joaquín Silva asks to leave Plaza Colonia

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Squad

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.

Squad

A falling-out at Plaza Colonia

Valentín Amoroso and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Plaza Colonia

11 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.

The dugout

The manager has not finished forgetting Michael Covea'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 dugout

When it matters, Modibo Traoré plays

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.

In brief

9 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Thiago Rodríguez hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Plaza Colonia can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Lucas Carrizo wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

Words exchanged at Plaza Colonia

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.

Squad

A row about effort at Plaza Colonia

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Segundo Pachamé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Santiago Syzard 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 dugout

Diego Villalba 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 Diego Villalba is on it.

The dugout

Pablo García asks for a word with the manager

“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.

Market

The Nicolás González question follows Plaza Colonia around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Nicolás González’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

A door opens for Michael López

He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.

In brief

8 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Tempers go at Plaza Colonia

Lucas Carrizo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

The dugout

Facundo Píriz 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 dugout

When it matters, Segundo Pachamé plays

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 dugout

Pablo García asks for a word with the manager

“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.

Market

The Joaquín Silva question follows Plaza Colonia around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Joaquín Silva’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Squad

A wage question at Plaza Colonia

Máximo Lorenzi 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.

In brief

7 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Miguel Rossi steps up from the Plaza Colonia academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Miguel Rossi 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.

Market

Maximiliano Pellistri steps up from the Plaza Colonia academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Maximiliano Pellistri 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.

Squad

Máximo Lorenzi 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 dugout

When it matters, Joaquín Silva plays

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.

Market

Lucas Carrizo linked with a move away

The name of Lucas Carrizo keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Plaza Colonia say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

A door opens for Pablo García

He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.

In brief

6 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Andres Gomez damages knee ligaments — 17 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 17 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.

Match

4 matches without a win for Plaza Colonia

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Plaza Colonia are no longer polite ones.

Player ratings

Tomás Escalante was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Player ratings

Ezequías Redín ran the middle of the pitch — 6.72

He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 12 combined actions and a mark of 6.72, and not one of them will make a highlights package.

Match

Penarol take the points off Plaza Colonia

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

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.

The dugout

No hiding place for Michael López

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Michael López, and the manager let it.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Plaza Colonia

11 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.

The dugout

Michael Covea is still being punished for one mistake

Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.

In brief

5 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

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 ratings

Nobody could get near Valentín Amoroso

Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

The dugout

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 ratings

Nicolás González was the difference for Plaza Colonia

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.

Match

Plaza Colonia share the spoils with River Plate

A 1‑1 draw with River Plate leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

The dugout

Fernando Gomez on the point

“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 dugout

Diego Villalba 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 Diego Villalba is on it.

The dugout

Maximiliano Noble asks for a word with the manager

“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 ahead

Valentín Amoroso faces his old club

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.

In brief

4 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Joaquín Silva wins the shoot-out

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.

Squad

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.

Match

Plaza Colonia bow out of the cup

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.

Match

Juventud take the points off Plaza Colonia

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

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 ratings

Matías Velázquez misses from twelve yards

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 dugout

Fernando Gomez answers for it

“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 ratings

Nobody on the pitch touched Segundo Pachamé

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Plaza Colonia

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.

In brief

3 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Nicolás González sends Plaza Colonia through

Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Nicolás González obliged against Miramar Misiones. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Plaza Colonia.

Squad

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 ratings

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.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Joaquín Silva

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 ratings

Diego Villalba runs at them all day

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.

Squad

Máximo Lorenzi in a row with a teammate

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 terraces

Plaza Colonia supporters have found a favourite in Lucas Carrizo

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 ratings

Tomás Escalante shuts the door

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 dugout

Fernando Gomez has his say

“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.

In brief

2 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Joaquín Silva

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 ratings

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Plaza Colonia

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.

Match

Boston River take the points off Plaza Colonia

Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

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.

Market

Camilo Perez steps up from the Plaza Colonia academy

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.

Market

Cristian De Arrascaeta steps up from the Plaza Colonia academy

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.

Market

One of our own: Camilo Aguirre joins the Plaza Colonia first team

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.

Market

One of our own: Alvaro Rivera joins the Plaza Colonia first team

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.

In brief

1 Edition

The Plaza Colonia Chronicle

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Plaza Colonia taken apart

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.

Squad

Ezequías Redín: 15 seasons and counting

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.

Market

Lucas Carrizo has his eye on Europe

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.

Squad

Tomás Escalante stays put

“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.

Squad

A falling-out at Plaza Colonia

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 dugout

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.

Squad

A row about effort at Plaza Colonia

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.

Boardroom

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.

Market

Nobody at Plaza Colonia has picked up the phone to Haibrany Ruiz Díaz

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.

In brief