November 9, 2026 · 9 min

Lunes de potrero: what a muddy pitch taught a whole league

Forty thousand people watched a ball that would not bounce, and the best passage of play came from a side that stopped trying to pass. It rained from the first minute. By the second half the centre circle was a puddle, and the only team that looked comfortable was the one that had trained that week on the patch of dirt behind the club. This week I go through the goal that decided it, talk to the groundsman who told me at ten in the morning it would be a draw, and make the case that the pitch deserves a place in the match report. Plus: your messages about the new kick-off times, a short note on the commentary booth’s worst chair, and the one tackle I still cannot decide about.