It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout21 Aug 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Gabriel Silva, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Deportivo Riestra, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lautaro García was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 The request is on a desk at Deportivo Riestra, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Obredor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Deportivo Riestra, another week without a signature from Ulises Vera.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Cristian Paz 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Gabriel Silva on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Deportivo Riestra than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
The offer from Dalian Yingbo for Mauro Smarra 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Deportivo Riestra they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Cristian Paz 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Deportivo Riestra will try again when the window opens; Racing Club may not be selling by then.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Deportivo Riestra have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 5 gone
That is the business done at Deportivo Riestra until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Deportivo Riestra offered $190.0K; Aldosivi 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.
Add another name to the list: Dalian Yingbo have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mauro Smarra. The answer from Deportivo Riestra has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Obredor 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.
Ulises Vera and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
12 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Deportivo Riestra can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Deportivo Riestra have done the hard part with Vélez, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
$190.0K on the table at Aldosivi. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Cristian Paz falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Boca Juniors have kept their man, and Deportivo Riestra go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
Player ratingsNobody on the pitch touched Ulises Vera
The offer from Liverpool Montevideo for Pedro Ramírez 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Deportivo Riestra have done the hard part with Racing Club, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian Paz 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.
Tomás Pérez Serra 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexander Díaz signs something — a contract at Deportivo Riestra or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Deportivo Riestra people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Vélez have accepted the money. What Deportivo Riestra do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
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.
Ulises Vera 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Curicó Unido waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Deportivo Riestra is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Deportivo Riestra can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer went to Racing Club this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cristian Paz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Add another name to the list: Atlanta have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Jorge Luque. The answer from Deportivo Riestra has not changed — yet.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Deportivo Riestra will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Deportivo Riestra, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Deportivo Riestra have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Gabriel Obredor 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.
Deportivo Riestra have gone to Vélez 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.
Deportivo Riestra offered $71.0K; Racing Club 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Cristian Paz 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.
Deportivo Riestra have made the call to Deportivo Armenio. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Position 15 and 5 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Deportivo Riestra can pretend not to have heard.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Deportivo Riestra will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have shaken hands with Argentinos Juniors; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Deportivo Riestra have gone to Racing Club with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Obredor is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Deportivo Riestra asked and Huracán said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Deportivo Riestra, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Deportivo Riestra will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Deportivo Riestra have done the hard part with Huracán, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Obredor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ulises Vera 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.
At 19 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
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 Dante Azaldegui is on it.
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 Deportivo Riestra have no good answer.
11 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.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.13 for the rest of 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.
Tomás Pérez Serra 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ignacio Arce, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 May 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Gabriel Silva to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody at Deportivo Riestra 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.
Facundo Millar is 19, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
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.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Matías Cortave and Deportivo Riestra agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Deportivo Riestra lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
9 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ignacio Arce and Deportivo Riestra agree another 2 years.
“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 words a physio says slowly. 21 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Deportivo Riestra have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Obredor 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.
Ulises Vera 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.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Jonathan Herrera is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Deportivo Riestra have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Obredor 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.
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Deportivo Riestra lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Deportivo Riestra has to find a result from somewhere.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 27 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.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Estudiantes scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Deportivo Riestra, and 0 appearances in 15 say he has earned the hearing.
The words a physio says slowly. 34 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Deportivo Riestra can pretend not to have heard.
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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Marked 6.72 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Gabriel Obredor's mistake
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Deportivo Riestra lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Samuel Portillo 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.
Nobody at Deportivo Riestra 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Deportivo Riestra know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Lanús in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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.
“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 Deportivo Riestra will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Deportivo Riestra lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I did not go to Chapecoense to sit and watch. I want to come back to Deportivo Riestra and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
14 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
59 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Deportivo Riestra lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A 2‑0 win over Gimnasia y Tiro, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Matías Cantero provided it, and the 8.01 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Obredor 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.
Juan Cruz Randazzo 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 a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Matteo Cucinotta 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 66 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.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Deportivo Riestra has to find a result from somewhere.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Cristian Paz and Deportivo Riestra agree another 2 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 Deportivo Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Something was said to Antony Alonso and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
7 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.
Nobody at Deportivo Riestra 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.
73 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Deportivo Riestra lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
7.06, 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Deportivo Riestra and Atlanta, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
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.
80 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Deportivo Riestra lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Mauro Smarra had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
1 for Facundo Miño, marked 7.55, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Jonathan Herrera 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.
87 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Deportivo Riestra lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Joaquín Flores has, at Deportivo Riestra, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Joaquín Flores and Deportivo Riestra agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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 Ignacio Arce is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mauro Smarra trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Joaquín Flores arrives at Deportivo Riestra with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
95 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Deportivo Riestra lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Obredor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
102 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Deportivo Riestra lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Wuhan Three Towns waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Deportivo Riestra is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer from Wuhan Three Towns for Dante Azaldegui 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Obredor is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The name of Emilio Figueredo has come up in conversations Deportivo Riestra were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Deportivo Riestra, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
6 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.
109 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Deportivo Riestra lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer from Wuhan Three Towns for Mauro Smarra 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Deportivo Riestra, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Juan Cruz Randazzo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Matías Cortave has written the date down.
Matías Linás damages knee ligaments — 117 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 117 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Obredor 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.
Ulises Vera 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vélez have kept their man, and Deportivo Riestra go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Deportivo Riestra has been clear about where Antony Alonso stands, which is more than many ever get.
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 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.
Ulises Vera 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Talleres have kept their man, and Deportivo Riestra go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The name of Martín Yapura has come up in conversations Deportivo Riestra were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dante Azaldegui and Deportivo Riestra agree another 5 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 Deportivo Riestra, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Deportivo Riestra 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$450.0K was the most the club would pay and Sarmiento were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. River Plate have kept their man, and Deportivo Riestra go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Samuel Portillo is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
6 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.
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 Gabriel Obredor is on it.
In brief
The dugoutAntony Alonso knocks on the manager’s door
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.
Lautaro Toledo Pacheco 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.
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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Deportivo Riestra will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Antony Alonso signs something — a contract at Deportivo Riestra or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Antony Alonso has written the date down.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Deportivo Riestra can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Deportivo Riestra have done the hard part with All Boys, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Obredor 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.
Tomás Pérez Serra 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Deportivo Riestra are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Deportivo Riestra has been clear about where Juan Cruz Randazzo stands, which is more than many ever get.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Fénix waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Deportivo Riestra is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
1‑2 against Cerro Porteno. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
The offer from Unión San Felipe for Matías Linás 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignacio Arce 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 easiest signature of my career.” Martín Yapura and Deportivo Riestra agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Arsenal waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Deportivo Riestra is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ignacio Arce was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Juan Cruz Randazzo 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.
A loan enquiry to Almirante Brown: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Deportivo Riestra have made the call to Defensores. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Nobody at Deportivo Riestra 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 words a physio says slowly. 20 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.
3‑2 against Nacional, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Nicolás Benegas was at the centre of the description.
Two goals and a mark of 8.59 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Getting past Ignacio Arce has become the hardest job in the division
11 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
Ulises Vera 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Deportivo Riestra pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Deportivo Riestra lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Deportivo Riestra, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Obredor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Antony Alonso trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Thiago Lauro is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexander Díaz signs something — a contract at Deportivo Riestra or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Deportivo Riestra lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Obredor is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Ignacio Arce is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Antony Alonso trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Deportivo Riestra know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Deportivo Riestra lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
1‑0 against Universitario, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Obredor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8.15. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Lautaro Toledo Pacheco 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.
50 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Deportivo Riestra lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Deportivo Riestra, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Mateo Straffurini has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Obredor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
50 goals in these colours now, every one of them somebody’s memory. There is a supporter in the stand who can tell you where he was for most of them.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
Ignacio Arce 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.
Lautaro Toledo Pacheco 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 did not go to Chengdu Rongcheng to sit and watch. I want to come back to Deportivo Riestra and fight for my place.” 7 appearances in 11 matches say the rest.
The words a physio says slowly. 57 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.
0‑1 against Universitario. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.97 for the rest of it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Deportivo Riestra have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Instituto were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ignacio Arce was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 64 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Deportivo Riestra can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Obredor is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Getting past Ignacio Arce has become the hardest job in the division
10 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Facundo Miño'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.
71 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Deportivo Riestra lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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 Linás 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.
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.
8 goals in 23 games at Sarmiento — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Deportivo Riestra updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
78 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Deportivo Riestra lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
1‑2 away to the standard of Cerro Porteno. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ignacio Arce and Deportivo Riestra agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Obredor 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.
85 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Deportivo Riestra lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Ignacio Arce 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Deportivo Riestra 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 been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexander Díaz signs something — a contract at Deportivo Riestra or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 93 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.
1‑3 against Nacional, and an evening that measured the gap rather than the ninety minutes. Nothing about it was a disgrace and nothing about it was close.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Deportivo Riestra can pretend not to have heard.
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.
20 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
200 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.
In brief
The dugoutIgnacio Arce has become a man the manager trusts
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Deportivo Riestra can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Obredor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Thiago Lauro 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Matías Cortave and Deportivo Riestra agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Agustín Bustinduy 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 make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter 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.
Juan Cruz Randazzo 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 award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Deportivo Riestra have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
Nobody at Deportivo Riestra 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 been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Antony Alonso signs something — a contract at Deportivo Riestra or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Obredor 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.
9 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Gabriel Silva, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 87th, and Unión de Santa Fe spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Obredor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Thiago Lauro’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Deportivo Riestra.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Thiago Lauro was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.12. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
5 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Getting past Ignacio Arce has become the hardest job in the division
8 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Deportivo Riestra can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Obredor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Matías Linás and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Obredor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Matías Linás 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 not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Deportivo Riestra can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Obredor 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.
Deportivo Riestra asked and Talleres said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Pedro Ramírez is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Deportivo Riestra can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 9 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
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.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Deportivo Riestra will try again when the window opens; Defensa y Justicia may not be selling by then.
7 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Obredor 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.
Juan Cruz Randazzo 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nicolás Ferreyra and Deportivo Riestra agree another 1 years.
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 Ignacio Arce is on it.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Deportivo Riestra can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Obredor 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.
Juan Cruz Randazzo 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.
Deportivo Riestra asked and River Plate said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I did not go to Deportes Concepción to sit and watch. I want to come back to Deportivo Riestra and fight for my place.” 8 appearances in 29 matches say the rest.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Deportivo Riestra, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Deportivo Riestra people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Racing Club; Deportivo Riestra go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Obredor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Talleres have kept their man, and Deportivo Riestra go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Deportivo Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
5 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Obredor is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Newell's Old Boys have kept their man, and Deportivo Riestra go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
The name of Alexander Díaz has come up in conversations Deportivo Riestra were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“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 Deportivo Riestra, and it is not being withdrawn.
The fee is $1.1M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Quilmes drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad21 Jun 2027
A muscle injury sidelines Ignacio Arce for 15 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Deportivo Riestra will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The offer from University of Pretoria for Joaquín Bonnin 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Obredor 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.
At 36, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Lautaro Toledo Pacheco 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.
Deportivo Riestra have made the call to Patronato. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Deportivo Riestra have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Deportivo Riestra, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Deportivo Riestra have done the hard part with Liniers, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Obredor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I did not go to Deportes Concepción to sit and watch. I want to come back to Deportivo Riestra and fight for my place.” 6 appearances in 25 matches say the rest.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Deportivo Riestra, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Ignacio Arce 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 phone has started ringing about Fabricio Ventresca again, and this time the name on the line is Almagro. Deportivo Riestra are listening politely and promising nothing.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Deportivo Riestra are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Gabriel Obredor is on it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Obredor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Antony Alonso has his answer from Deportivo Riestra; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Nobody at Deportivo Riestra 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Deportivo Riestra know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Deportivo Riestra can pretend not to have heard.
Two goals and a mark of 8.23 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Obredor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Juan Cruz Randazzo 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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
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
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Pablo Monje
Position 13 and 12 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ignacio Arce was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I did not go to Deportes Concepción to sit and watch. I want to come back to Deportivo Riestra and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 21 matches say the rest.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Gabriel Silva after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nicolás Ferreyra and Deportivo Riestra agree another 1 years.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Deportivo Riestra have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignacio Arce 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 easiest signature of my career.” Lautaro Toledo Pacheco and Deportivo Riestra agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout10 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Gabriel Silva left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Deportivo Riestra will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Obredor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The goal that put Defensa y Justicia ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Deportivo Riestra equalised, 3 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 May 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Thiago Lauro
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Thiago Lauro has come out of that comparison in the side, and Deportivo Riestra have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Gabriel Silva after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Ignacio Arce 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.
A 1‑0 win over Gimnasia y Esgrima, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Gabriel Silva on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Nobody at Deportivo Riestra 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The bid was some way short and Deportivo Riestra did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Ignacio Arce 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.
Agustín Bustinduy 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Deportivo Riestra, and 3 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
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 Rodrigo Sayavedra is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Deportivo Riestra know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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
The dugoutJohnson Nsumoh asks for a word with the manager
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Deportivo Riestra can pretend not to have heard.
1 for Pablo Monje, marked 7.62, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Independiente were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Obredor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Thiago Lauro 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Obredor 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 interest is real enough to have reached print. Deportivo Riestra have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Ángel Almada was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.14. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Deportivo Riestra know it.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Gustavo Fernández has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Deportivo Riestra have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 dugoutPablo Monje knocks on the manager's door
“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 Deportivo Riestra, and it is not being withdrawn.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Deportivo Riestra has to find a result from somewhere.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Obredor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I did not go to Deportes Concepción to sit and watch. I want to come back to Deportivo Riestra and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Gabriel Silva after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer 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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Gustavo Fernández has his answer from Deportivo Riestra; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It needed Nicolás Benegas to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Unión de Santa Fe, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Nobody at Deportivo Riestra 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Gabriel Silva was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Deportivo Riestra dressing room was either.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Marino Arzamendia: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
“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 Deportivo Riestra, and it is not being withdrawn.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ignacio Arce and Deportivo Riestra agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Obredor 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 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Gabriel Silva left the room before anybody could ask which.
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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Thiago Lauro is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
The offer from Atyrau for Fabricio Ventresca 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.
Juan Cruz Randazzo 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.
“I watch every Deportivo Riestra game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Deportes Concepción runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Gabriel Silva on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Deportivo Riestra will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Deportivo Riestra has to find a result from somewhere.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Obredor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Atyrau have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Fabricio Ventresca. The answer from Deportivo Riestra has not changed — yet.
4 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Valentín Pereyra 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. Luis Cabrera is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Iván Ramos 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 offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Ignacio Arce falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Deportivo Riestra know 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 Deportivo Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Deportivo Riestra 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 been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Antony Alonso signs something — a contract at Deportivo Riestra or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Deportivo Riestra than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Deportivo Riestra can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Obredor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nicolás Benegas 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 did not go to Deportes Concepción to sit and watch. I want to come back to Deportivo Riestra and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
“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 Deportivo Riestra will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexander Díaz trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Deportivo Riestra lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The offer from Leganés for Alexander Díaz 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Obredor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Samuel Portillo 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 name of Fabricio Ventresca has come up in conversations Deportivo Riestra were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Deportivo Riestra lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 14 and 10 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Deportivo Riestra will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Gabriel Obredor 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 Ignacio Arce 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 Gabriel Obredor is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexander Díaz signs something — a contract at Deportivo Riestra or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Deportivo Riestra lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Deportivo Riestra can pretend not to have heard.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Deportivo Riestra will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Everything agreed with Central Norte, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Ignacio Arce 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.
Nobody at Deportivo Riestra 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.
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Deportivo Riestra lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Deportivo Riestra can pretend not to have heard.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Deportivo Riestra will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Everything was agreed with Ferro Carril Oeste and then the doctor spoke. Deportivo Riestra have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ángel Stringa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Deportivo Riestra the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Deportivo Riestra have done the hard part with Atlanta, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Deportivo Riestra had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Talleres, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Ángel Stringa has agreed terms with Banfield for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Alexander Díaz 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.
52 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Deportivo Riestra lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Deportivo Riestra will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
He is going to Nacional, the club has $5.1M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Deportivo Riestra can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Talleres is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Boca Juniors keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Newell's Old Boys paid $230.0K and Deportivo Riestra took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Deportivo Riestra people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Obredor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The name of Jorge Luque has come up in conversations Deportivo Riestra were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Faustino De Vito 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.
Deportivo Riestra have made the call to River Plate. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Deportivo Riestra have made the call to Boca Juniors. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Nicolás Watson's mistake
The dugoutAlexander Díaz asks for a word with the manager
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Deportivo Riestra will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The phone has started ringing about Mariano Bracamonte again, and this time the name on the line is Nacional. Deportivo Riestra are listening politely and promising nothing.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Facundo Miño and Deportivo Riestra agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Obredor 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.
Nicolás Benegas 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.
Deportivo Riestra have made the call to River Plate. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Deportivo Riestra know it.
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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Thiago Romero falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Deportivo Riestra. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Deportivo Riestra will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Deportivo Riestra is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Deportivo Riestra can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Obredor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Something was said to Juan Cruz Randazzo and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Deportivo Riestra could ask drops and the wages Facundo Miño can ask rise.
Nobody at Deportivo Riestra 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.
Position 14 and 10 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Facundo Miño will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Deportivo Riestra the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Nicolás Watson'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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Deportivo Riestra they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Riestra 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 Gabriel Obredor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Deportivo Riestra, another week without a signature from Mariano Bracamonte.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Gabriel Silva to a room that had heard them before.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Obredor 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.
Juan Cruz Randazzo 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
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.
“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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Deportivo Riestra they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Up for the corner, and Cristian Paz delivers — 7.95
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Cristian Paz scored, was marked 7.95, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
11 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Gabriel Silva on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Deportivo Riestra they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Rodrigo Gallo has agreed terms with Aldosivi for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Riestra 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 Gabriel Obredor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
9 combined actions and 6.83. 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Deportivo Riestra will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Deportivo Riestra is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Obredor is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Riestra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Defensa y Justicia in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Deportivo Riestra will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Juan Cruz Randazzo 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.
“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 ratings5 Oct 2026
Pedro Ramírez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Deportivo Riestra are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
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.” Gabriel Silva kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
The dugoutGabriel Obredor has become a man the manager trusts
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Deportivo Riestra will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Deportivo Riestra is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Gabriel Obredor 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johnson Nsumoh 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.