“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 The request is on a desk at Plaza Colonia, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
Squad17 May 2027
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.
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 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.
“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
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
The dugoutSegundo Pachamé has become a man the manager trusts
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.
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.
“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.
“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
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Facundo Píriz
The dugoutPablo García knocks on the manager's door
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.
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.
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.
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
SquadMáximo Lorenzi falls out with a teammate over standards
“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 ratings26 Apr 2027
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.
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad26 Apr 2027
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 dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Fernando Gomez kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
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.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
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.
“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
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Matías Velázquez
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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 dugout5 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Fernando Gomez left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
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.
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.
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
The dugoutJoaquín Silva has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutPablo García asks for a word with the manager
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Álvaro López’s exile
34Edition
The Plaza Colonia Chronicle
22 Mar 2027
From our football correspondentSteady
The terraces22 Mar 2027
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.
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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Fernando Gomez on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“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.
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.
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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joaquín García will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Plaza Colonia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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.
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.
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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
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.
“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.
“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.
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.
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad1 Mar 2027
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.
“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 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
The dugoutJoaquín Silva has become a man the manager trusts
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.
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.
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.
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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
5 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.
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.
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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
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.
“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.
“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
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Joaquín Silva
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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 dugout25 Jan 2027
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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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.
“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.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
“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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Plaza Colonia can pretend not to have heard.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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.
Squad21 Dec 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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 terraces30 Nov 2026
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.
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.
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.
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 dugout30 Nov 2026
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 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.
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.
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.
“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.
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.
Squad16 Nov 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.
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.
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.
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.
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
The dugoutJoaquín Silva knocks on the manager's door
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 dugout2 Nov 2026
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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody 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.
“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.
“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 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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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.
“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.
Squad5 Oct 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.
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 dugout5 Oct 2026
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.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad7 Sep 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.
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 dugout7 Sep 2026
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.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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
Player ratingsA defender's afternoon for Modibo Traoré
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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.