Mauro Pittón and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Bruno Pittón 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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Tomás González has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
3 goals in 5 games at Gimnasia La Plata — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Unión de Santa Fe updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
In brief
The dugoutMatías Rocha knocks on the manager's door
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Unión de Santa Fe has to find a result from somewhere.
Mauro Pittón and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Juan Pintado 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.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Marcelo Estigarribia had Unión de Santa Fe level again within 3 minutes, and Independiente never got to play with a lead at all.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Pablo Vázquez was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Unión de Santa Fe dressing room was either.
In brief
The dugoutTomás González has become a man the manager trusts
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Unión de Santa Fe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.78 beside his name.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Pablo Vázquez after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Rocha 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.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.15 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Unión de Santa Fe have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Mauro Pittón was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Bruno Pittón falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Augusto Solari has his answer from Unión de Santa Fe; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Vélez scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Unión de Santa Fe have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Matías Mansilla and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
4 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Pintado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Bruno Romano 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. Daniel Ortiz 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. Julián Luna 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Marcelo Estigarribia has his answer from Unión de Santa Fe; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matías Rocha is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Tomás González is on it.
Instituto next, and one man in the Unión de Santa Fe dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lautaro Vargas signs something — a contract at Unión de Santa Fe or anywhere else — this column belongs to 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 Unión de Santa Fe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Pittón 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 will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Unión de Santa Fe, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Unión de Santa Fe have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Mauro Pittón 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Juan Pintado 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.
Add another name to the list: Oxford United have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Franco Ratotti. The answer from Unión de Santa Fe has not changed — yet.
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Julián Palacios and Unión de Santa Fe agree another 3 years.
Mauro Pittón and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tomás González was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Marcelo Estigarribia has written the date down.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Agustín Peralta Bauer arrives at Unión de Santa Fe with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
In brief
MarketThe window shut and Augusto Solari is still in the building
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Unión de Santa Fe 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 Unión de Santa Fe can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Tijuana for Franco Ratotti was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Bruno Pittón and Unión de Santa Fe agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Pittón 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.
“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 Unión de Santa Fe, 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 Unión de Santa Fe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Juan Pintado falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Augusto Solari's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Unión de Santa Fe know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Unión de Santa Fe lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The deal with San Martín is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Matías Mansilla 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.
Unión de Santa Fe asked and Juventus said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Pablo Ludueña was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 27 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Unión de Santa Fe 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 Unión de Santa Fe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eric Ramírez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Marcelo Estigarribia has written the date down.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Unión de Santa Fe lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Ignacio Malcorra was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Pintado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Tomás Romero has his answer from Unión de Santa Fe; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Unión de Santa Fe. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Unión de Santa Fe lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Ignacio Malcorra and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Augusto Solari trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Unión de Santa Fe know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
50 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Unión de Santa Fe lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eric Ramírez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8 goals in 9 games at Gimnasia La Plata — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Unión de Santa Fe updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lucas Meuli signs something — a contract at Unión de Santa Fe or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Ignacio Malcorra’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
58 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Unión de Santa Fe lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Brahian Cuello will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Unión de Santa Fe the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Unión de Santa Fe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Pintado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Unión de Santa Fe. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Nobody at Unión de Santa Fe 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.
65 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Unión de Santa Fe lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Ignacio Malcorra was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Nobody at Unión de Santa Fe will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lautaro Vargas signs something — a contract at Unión de Santa Fe or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
72 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Unión de Santa Fe lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Ignacio Malcorra and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eric Ramírez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Lautaro Vargas is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Unión de Santa Fe, another week without a signature from Brahian Cuello.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Marcelo Estigarribia has written the date down.
79 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Unión de Santa Fe lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Unión de Santa Fe have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
At 39 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.33 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Ignacio Malcorra and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Juan Pintado 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.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
In brief
Player ratingsMarcelo Estigarribia was on a different afternoon to everybody else
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Agustín Colazo’s exile
86 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Unión de Santa Fe lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Unión de Santa Fe 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 Unión de Santa Fe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolás Palavecino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Pablo Vázquez chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
93 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Unión de Santa Fe lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
1‑4 against Gimnasia y Esgrima, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Ignacio Malcorra was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eric Ramírez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
100 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Unión de Santa Fe lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Ignacio Malcorra and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Pintado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
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.
107 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Unión de Santa Fe lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Marked 8.18 — 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Rocha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Pablo Vázquez after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Nobody at Unión de Santa Fe is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
115 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Unión de Santa Fe lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Brahian Cuello will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Unión de Santa Fe the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Unión de Santa Fe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eric Ramírez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Pablo Vázquez on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The words a physio says slowly. 124 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.
Mauro Pittón had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and San Lorenzo were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Two goals and a mark of 8.57 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Ignacio Malcorra was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Pintado 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.
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Pablo Vázquez chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Tobías Rubio's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The words a physio says slowly. 132 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.
Ignacio Malcorra and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Eric Ramírez is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Matías Rocha 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.
Mauro Pittón wins it after the whistle should have gone
90 minutes played. Mauro Pittón found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Talleres went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
The offer from Villarreal for Marcelo Estigarribia 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.
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.
Ignacio Malcorra and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Eric Ramírez 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.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
0‑3 against Deportivo Riestra, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Two goals and a mark of 8.41 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Bautista Peres, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.69
A mark of 7.69 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Unión de Santa Fe they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Unión de Santa Fe has to find a result from somewhere.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Unión de Santa Fe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ignacio Malcorra 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 respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
It needed Julián Palacios to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Central Córdoba SdE, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Pablo Vázquez after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Shots: 9. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nicolas Zenclussen and Unión de Santa Fe agree another 4 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eric Ramírez 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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Juan Manuel Cabrera 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. Tomás Ferrari has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The offer from Gijón for Lautaro Vargas 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ignacio Malcorra and Unión de Santa Fe agree another 2 years.
Ignacio Malcorra and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Pintado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Still no offer on the table, and Mauro Pittón’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
11 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Pablo Vázquez after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.