“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” San Lorenzo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around San Lorenzo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 The request is on a desk at San Lorenzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Alexis Cuello 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 the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ezequiel Centurión wants continental football; whether San Lorenzo can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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 San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Juan Cruz Rattalino commits to San Lorenzo for another 3 years.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Tripichio is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Gonzalo Alassia wants continental football; whether San Lorenzo can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“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 San Lorenzo, and 15 appearances in 47 say he has earned the hearing.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Mauricio Cardillo may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
2‑3, and a season that ran to May has ended inside a fortnight. This is what a playoff is: nine months of work settled by a couple of evenings, and nobody who designed it was thinking about the losing dressing room.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Lorenzo can pretend not to have heard.
Alexis Cuello 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 a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Thiago Perugini 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 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 nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Lorenzo 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 San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around San Lorenzo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Tripichio 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.
“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; San Lorenzo are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Lorenzo can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around San Lorenzo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Alexis Cuello 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 the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Matías Hernández wants continental football; whether San Lorenzo can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason San Lorenzo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 9.00 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 San Lorenzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
Alexis Cuello was on a different afternoon to everybody else
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason San Lorenzo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Lorenzo can pretend not to have heard.
Alexis Cuello 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 easiest signature of my career.” Nicolás Tripichio and San Lorenzo agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“Three loans in three years. At some point a club has to decide if I am their player or their asset.” The spell at Banfield continues; the message travels home.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 San Lorenzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at San Lorenzo is running low.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at San Lorenzo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bruno Zuculini will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around San Lorenzo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Alexis Cuello 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.
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.
Marked 8.40 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 53 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 San Lorenzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Braian Romero has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means San Lorenzo have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Tripichio 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason San Lorenzo 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 San Lorenzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo 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 San Lorenzo, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Tripichio 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Facundo Bruera at his very best
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason San Lorenzo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Facundo Bruera will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at San Lorenzo escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
“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 San Lorenzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at San Lorenzo
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
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.
Alexis Cuello 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around San Lorenzo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
67 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.
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.
“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 San Lorenzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around San Lorenzo 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 San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
23 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.
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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 28 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Alexis Cuello 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 a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 22 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Temperley will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Fernando Brandán has pre-agreed a move to San Lorenzo, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Estudiantes tried to reorganise, San Lorenzo did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mathías de Ritis 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.
Marked 8.16 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Sivasspor will make the call about Giuliano Pierini this week. San Lorenzo have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Two goals and a mark of 9.16 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at San Lorenzo
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Lorenzo can pretend not to have heard.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Demián Talavera 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.
Alexis Cuello 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 offer from Banfield for Alejo Córdoba 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 San Lorenzo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Platense left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Tripichio 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Lorenzo can pretend not to have heard.
Alexis Cuello 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 name of Alejo Córdoba has come up in conversations San Lorenzo were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.50 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Lorenzo 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 San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about San Lorenzo and Instituto in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
At 23 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.
Alexis Cuello 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 San Lorenzo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Huachipato runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Mauricio Cardillo wants continental football; whether San Lorenzo can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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.
“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 San Lorenzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at San Lorenzo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo 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 San Lorenzo, and 5 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mathías de Ritis 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.
Loan watch3 Jul 2028
Nahuel Romero is tired of being somebody else's player
“Another season, another badge, another dressing room to win over. I would like one pre-season at San Lorenzo where somebody actually looks at me.” He belongs to Banfield until the spell ends; the argument is with the club that owns him.
8 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Lorenzo can pretend not to have heard.
Alexis Cuello 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 name of Máximo Gándara has come up in conversations San Lorenzo were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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.
“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 San Lorenzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Tripichio 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gonzalo Alassia and San Lorenzo agree another 4 years.
Squad19 Jun 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Orlando Gill'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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” San Lorenzo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Alexis Cuello 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.
Add another name to the list: Arsenal have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Lucas Juárez. The answer from San Lorenzo has not changed — yet.
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 San Lorenzo know it.
“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 San Lorenzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around San Lorenzo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
The offer from Almirante Brown for Fabricio 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Fernando Moreyra has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means San Lorenzo have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
“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 San Lorenzo, and 5 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” San Lorenzo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Alexis Cuello 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, terms agreed, medical booked. Fabricio Díaz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around San Lorenzo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Facundo Bruera wants continental football; whether San Lorenzo can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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 San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mathías de Ritis is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at San Lorenzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ignacio Perruzzi and San Lorenzo agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Alexis Cuello 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.
Talleres will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Mauro Ortiz has pre-agreed a move to San Lorenzo, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
8.52. 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.
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 easiest signature of my career.” Ezequiel Cerutti and San Lorenzo agree another 2 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 San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Facundo Gulli has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings8 May 2028
Facundo Gulli was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.74. 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Facundo Bruera at his very best
SquadWords at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Alexis Cuello 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at San Lorenzo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 San Lorenzo, and 2 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Matías Sosa wants continental football; whether San Lorenzo can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
31 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Lorenzo can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” San Lorenzo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Alejo Córdoba 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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Tripichio 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 offer from FC Cincinnati for Brandon Verón 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.
Alexis Cuello was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Nahuel Arias 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 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 San Lorenzo know it.
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Facundo Gulli 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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mathías de Ritis 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Colorado Rapids will make the call about Brandon Verón this week. San Lorenzo have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. San Lorenzo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 29 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
“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 San Lorenzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Alexis Cuello 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, terms agreed, medical booked. Fabricio Díaz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around San Lorenzo 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.
“Three loans in three years. At some point a club has to decide if I am their player or their asset.” The spell at Banfield continues; the message travels home.
The words a physio says slowly. 30 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. San Lorenzo scored in the 95th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.87 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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 San Lorenzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Luciano Vietto. 5‑4 against Talleres, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
The words a physio says slowly. 37 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.
Alexis Cuello 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Francisco Flores wants continental football; whether San Lorenzo can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ignacio Perruzzi signs something — a contract at San Lorenzo or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
1‑2 away to the standard of Junior. 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.
27 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Facundo Gulli was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.75. 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.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Tripichio 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.
Facundo Bruera had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Estudiantes were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Facundo Bruera provided it, and the 8.50 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Alexis Cuello 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at San Lorenzo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nicolás Tripichio and San Lorenzo agree another 2 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 San Lorenzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mathías de Ritis 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.
0‑2 against Junior. 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.
Alexis Cuello 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Luciano Vietto will call it something else in private.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Agustín Ladstatter and San Lorenzo agree another 4 years.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Gulli 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 phone has started ringing about Valentín Escalante again, and this time the name on the line is Urawa Reds. San Lorenzo are listening politely and promising nothing.
Alexis Cuello 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, terms agreed, medical booked. Fabricio Díaz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around San Lorenzo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
6 academy players handed senior numbers at San Lorenzo
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Facundo Gulli 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Andrés Villalba 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. Cristian Moretti has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Roberto Domínguez 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” San Lorenzo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 San Lorenzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” San Lorenzo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Alexis Cuello 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 the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Facundo Bruera wants continental football; whether San Lorenzo can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
18 new faces, and San Lorenzo are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
He is going to Betis, the club has $13.4M 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.
“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 San Lorenzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
In brief
SquadWords at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Villarreal paid $5.8M and San Lorenzo took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Alexis Cuello 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around San Lorenzo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ezequiel Centurión wants continental football; whether San Lorenzo can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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 board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ezequiel Lombardi has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Lorenzo can pretend not to have heard.
The phone has started ringing about Branco Salinardi again, and this time the name on the line is Villarreal. San Lorenzo are listening politely and promising nothing.
The offer from La Equidad for Lautaro Cueli 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.
Alexis Cuello was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. San Lorenzo will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Matías Sosa wants continental football; whether San Lorenzo can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“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 San Lorenzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The medical room confirms 41 days on the sidelines for Nicasio Dorado, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mathías de Ritis 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.
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. San Lorenzo will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad27 Dec 2027
9 new faces, and San Lorenzo are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“I watch every San Lorenzo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Urawa Reds runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” San Lorenzo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Lorenzo can pretend not to have heard.
Alexis Cuello was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. San Lorenzo will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Facundo Gulli 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 is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Alejo Córdoba wants continental football; whether San Lorenzo can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“I watch every San Lorenzo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Santiago Wanderers runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
1‑0 against Sportivo Luqueno, 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.
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 1 on the scoresheet, 7.55 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
The offer from River Plate for Facundo Gulli 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.
Add another name to the list: Lanús have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mathías de Ritis. The answer from San Lorenzo has not changed — yet.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ezequiel Lombardi has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Alexis Cuello 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.
Add another name to the list: San Miguel have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Máximo Gándara. The answer from San Lorenzo has not changed — yet.
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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Estudiantes will make the call about Nahuel Romero this week. San Lorenzo have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Nobody at San Lorenzo 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.
2‑2 against Cobresal, 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.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Cobresal kept coming because nothing stopped them, and San Lorenzo will be asked about the last half hour all week.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” San Lorenzo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Gulli 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.
“I watch every San Lorenzo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Urawa Reds runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
10 goals in 29 games at Central Norte — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at San Lorenzo updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” San Lorenzo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Alexis Cuello 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 the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Facundo Bruera wants continental football; whether San Lorenzo can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Facundo Gulli 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.
Banfield go through. The table said this team was good enough for months and the format does not care what the table said, which is the argument every eliminated club has had with itself since playoffs were invented.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Orlando Gill, and the manager let it.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mathías de Ritis 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 general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
“I did not go to Real Santander to sit and watch. I want to come back to San Lorenzo and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 17 matches say the rest.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
1‑0 settles it, and a club that spent a season earning the right to play these games has won one of them. Somebody else's season ended tonight, which is the part nobody mentions in the celebrations.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ezequiel Lombardi has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
0‑1 against Flamengo. 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.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
30 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.
Orlando Gill 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Facundo Gulli 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 San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Tripichio is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. San Lorenzo told Facundo Gulli something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“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 San Lorenzo, and 5 appearances in 36 say he has earned the hearing.
9 goals in 32 games at Morón — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at San Lorenzo updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
0‑5. There is a level at which football is played every single week by clubs that have been doing it for fifty years, and an evening like this is what it feels like to arrive there without having done it.
Alexis Cuello 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Luciano Vietto.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.50 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Gulli 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Facundo Gulli has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Facundo Gulli was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.41. 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at San Lorenzo, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
1 for Gonzalo Abrego, marked 7.00, 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.
Alexis Cuello was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Facundo Gulli 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 watch every San Lorenzo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al-Ra'ed runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
0‑0 against Sportivo Luqueno, 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.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mathías de Ritis 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.
In brief
Player ratingsRodrigo Auzmendi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Alexis Cuello 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: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Facundo Gulli 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 watch every San Lorenzo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Newell's Old Boys runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
He has had enough of the noise. Whether San Lorenzo can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
In brief
The terracesEverybody has an opinion about Orlando Gill
Two goals and a mark of 9.31 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about San Lorenzo and Cobresal in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Gulli 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Facundo Gulli has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Facundo Bruera was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.61. 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.
Alexis Cuello 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Franco Lorenzón wants continental football; whether San Lorenzo can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“I watch every San Lorenzo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al-Ra'ed runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ezequiel Lombardi has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Gulli 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.
“I watch every San Lorenzo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Gimnasia La Plata runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
34 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.
Boardroom30 Aug 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at San Lorenzo
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The offer from Sunderland for Facundo Gulli 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.
Alexis Cuello 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 the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Mauricio Cardillo wants continental football; whether San Lorenzo can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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 San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mathías de Ritis 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.
“I did not go to Newell's Old Boys to sit and watch. I want to come back to San Lorenzo and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 10 matches say the rest.
10 goals in 27 games at Central Norte — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at San Lorenzo updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Alexis Cuello 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jhohan Romaña. 2‑1 against Lanús, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” San Lorenzo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Facundo Gulli, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.64
A mark of 7.64 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A performance of 8.67 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Tripichio 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at San Lorenzo is running low.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Orlando Gill was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Jhohan Romaña was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.38. 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.
39 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.86 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 28 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Facundo Gulli, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 9.32
A mark of 9.32 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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.
The offer from Chaco For Ever for Fabricio 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.
Alexis Cuello 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.
22 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Facundo Gulli 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.
Position 13 and 13 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.
“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 San Lorenzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Chornomorets for Daniel Herrera 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 San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Giuliano Pierini again, and this time the name on the line is Almagro. San Lorenzo are listening politely and promising nothing.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Bruno Zuculini and San Lorenzo agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Gulli 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 board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
“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 San Lorenzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Levante for Agustín Alvez 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.
Alexis Cuello 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.
Add another name to the list: Nueva Chicago have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Alan Salas. The answer from San Lorenzo has not changed — yet.
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 San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Add another name to the list: Talleres have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Tadeo Calgaro. The answer from San Lorenzo has not changed — yet.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Tripichio 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 general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
“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 San Lorenzo, and 1 appearances in 20 say he has earned the hearing.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Alvarado will make the call about Lucas Juárez this week. San Lorenzo have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Alexis Cuello 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ignacio Mónaco and San Lorenzo agree another 4 years.
“I watch every San Lorenzo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Urawa Reds runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
6 goals in 12 games at Barracas Central — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at San Lorenzo updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Ezequiel Centurión: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Colón go through and San Lorenzo go home, 1‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Position 13 and 13 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.
“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 San Lorenzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Lanús moved on, Matías Reali reports back to San Lorenzo, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 San Lorenzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Alexis Cuello 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.
“I watch every San Lorenzo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al-Ra'ed runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Lorenzo 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 San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Tripichio is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is 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.
Alexis Cuello 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.
“I watch every San Lorenzo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Urawa Reds runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Lorenzo 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 San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Tripichio 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.
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.
Alexis Cuello 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.
Marked 8.77 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Alexis Cuello was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.69. 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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Franco Lorenzón wants continental football; whether San Lorenzo can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not 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 San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Tripichio 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 32 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Facundo Gulli, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 9.32
A mark of 9.32 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Alexis Cuello 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.
23 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Facundo Gulli 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.
“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 San Lorenzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.80 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Alexis Cuello 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.
Marked 8.53 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“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 San Lorenzo, and 1 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
Position 13 and 9 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.86, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Tripichio 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.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Ezequiel Centurión knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
“I watch every San Lorenzo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al-Ra'ed runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The 2-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Rodrigo Auzmendi was at the centre of it, Talleres were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.19 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Alexis Cuello 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rodrigo Auzmendi. 4‑3 against Talleres, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.27 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Tripichio 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.
Nobody at San Lorenzo 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Lorenzo can pretend not to have heard.
Alexis Cuello 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.” Ignacio Perruzzi and San Lorenzo agree another 5 years.
“I watch every San Lorenzo game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al-Ittihad runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“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 San Lorenzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nahuel Romero is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
In brief
SquadWords at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ezequiel Cerutti and San Lorenzo agree another 2 years.
Alexis Cuello 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Franco Lorenzón wants continental football; whether San Lorenzo can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
In brief
BoardroomNobody left the San Lorenzo dressing room in a hurry
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.89. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at San Lorenzo.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Tripichio 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.
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.
“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 San Lorenzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Alexis Cuello 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Mauricio Cardillo wants continental football; whether San Lorenzo can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Facundo Gulli did not need any: 9.08, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“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 San Lorenzo, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 21 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.
35 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.
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.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at San Lorenzo can tell you which week it ends in.
24 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.
Orlando Gill 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.
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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Leonardo Benítez 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Enzo Quiroga has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Juan Manuel Iglesias has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The words a physio says slowly. 14 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The offer from Konyaspor for Matías Hernández 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 San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 23 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The offer from Zob Ahan for Santiago Torres 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.
Alexis Cuello 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.
Add another name to the list: Hapoel Tel Aviv have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Matías Hernández. The answer from San Lorenzo has not changed — yet.
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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at San Lorenzo, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Position 1, 22 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking 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 San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Tripichio is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is 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 offer from Auckland FC for Branco Salinardi 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ignacio Perruzzi is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Alexis Cuello 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
6 new faces, and San Lorenzo are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Still no offer on the table, and Lautaro Montenegro’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. San Lorenzo will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Alejo Córdoba reports back to San Lorenzo with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at San Lorenzo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
16 games, 0 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at San Lorenzo now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at San Lorenzo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Tripichio 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.