Marked for Ignacio Acosta
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 May 2027
Ñublense are out and Coquimbo Unido go through, 3‑2 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match19 May 2027
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Coquimbo Unido scored in the 122th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Squad24 May 2027
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
The dugout24 May 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market24 May 2027
Luis Díaz hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Coquimbo Unido can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad24 May 2027
Matías Sánchez 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Coquimbo Unido training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Luis Gamonal 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 terraces24 May 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Axel Encinas 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.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of José Luis Gamonal
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Ignacio Acosta has become a man the manager trusts
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match1 May 2027
There were 89 minutes on the clock and Huachipato had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Coquimbo Unido did not stop to explain themselves.
Market3 May 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Coquimbo Unido can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout3 May 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Up for the corner, and Brayan Troncoso delivers — 7.90
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Brayan Troncoso scored, was marked 7.90, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Match1 May 2027
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Match1 May 2027
A 3‑2 win over Huachipato, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad3 May 2027
Fito Ovalle 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 dugout3 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Matías Bórquez
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match1 May 2027
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Jan 2027
24 days out for Axel Encinas after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Coquimbo Unido will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Unión San Felipe have kept their man, and Coquimbo Unido go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Santiago Coronel, and the manager let it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
No place for Iván Rozas in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Coquimbo Unido are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Plaza Barrios was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Ignacio Acosta knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Coquimbo Unido, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
Matías Sánchez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Lucas Pratto is not the player he was
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 38 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Dylan Glaby
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.