109 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Academia Puerto Cabello lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Academia Puerto Cabello 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.
Something was said to Junior Moreno and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
Iván López is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
UCV next, and one man in the Academia Puerto Cabello dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
125 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Academia Puerto Cabello lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Academia Puerto Cabello 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.” Academia Puerto Cabello have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Gerónimo Bortagaray 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. Roger Manríque 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 8.05 — 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Rafael Cordova could afford to be generous.
The first defeat in 14 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Caracas; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Gianluigi Pacífico has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Roger Manríque was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Academia Puerto Cabello this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Gerónimo Bortagaray has come out of that comparison in the side, and Academia Puerto Cabello have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Nobody at Academia Puerto Cabello 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 Academia Puerto Cabello can pretend not to have heard.
Academia Puerto Cabello and Envigado have settled on $3.8M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Diego Osorio had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Ignacio Galván 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 had been thinking. Roger Manríque 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.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Nobody at Academia Puerto Cabello 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.
Gerónimo Bortagaray and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Academia Puerto Cabello will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
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.
9 shut-outs in 29 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Tomás Canteros has been having a lot of them.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Academia Puerto Cabello they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Roger Manríque was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Academia Puerto Cabello 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 did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Academia Puerto Cabello will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Academia Puerto Cabello can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Ignacio Galván 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 had been thinking. Roger Manríque 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.
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.
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 Joel Graterol is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gastón Lodico trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Academia Puerto Cabello can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Ignacio Galván 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 had been thinking. Roger Manríque is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
9 clean sheets from 29 appearances at Dynamo Puerto. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
Nobody at Academia Puerto Cabello 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Academia Puerto Cabello has been clear about where Lionel Forni stands, which is more than many ever get.
“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 Academia Puerto Cabello, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Academia Puerto Cabello may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Academia Puerto Cabello 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 Academia Puerto Cabello 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 Rodrigo Guth was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Academia Puerto Cabello has been clear about where Daniel Saggiomo stands, which is more than many ever get.
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 Gerónimo Bortagaray is on it.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
Iván López is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Academia Puerto Cabello, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gerardo Padrón will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Academia Puerto Cabello the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Academia Puerto Cabello can give him that is a question about the club, 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 Academia Puerto Cabello this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Academia Puerto Cabello can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
He is 20, and nobody at Academia Puerto Cabello signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Academia Puerto Cabello know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Gerónimo Bortagaray is on it.
8 clean sheets from 26 appearances at Dynamo Puerto. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
In brief
The dugoutIván López is still being punished for one mistake
68 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Academia Puerto Cabello lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 8.83 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Academia Puerto Cabello may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Gerónimo Bortagaray wants continental football; whether Academia Puerto Cabello can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roger Manríque 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.
100 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Academia Puerto Cabello lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
7 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.
33 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
“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 Academia Puerto Cabello, and it is not being withdrawn.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 13 actions, 7.08, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
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 2‑0 win over Mineros de Guayana, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Marked 8.42 — 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.
Bolívar will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Academia Puerto Cabello were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jesús Cantillo provided it, and the 8.37 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Jorge Echeverría 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.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
Robinson Flores was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.10. 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 4‑1, Rafael Cordova could afford to be generous.
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 Jorge Echeverría is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 40 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.
Jorge Echeverría 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Academia Puerto Cabello is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nahuel Olmedo 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 dugout21 Feb 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Rafael Cordova kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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 Jorge Echeverría is on it.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Iván López
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mineros de Guayana have kept their man, and Academia Puerto Cabello go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Academia Puerto Cabello this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Academia Puerto Cabello will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Jhon Marchán'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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Cristian Cruz trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Academia Puerto Cabello can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Caracas for Andrés Ponce was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nahuel Olmedo 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 Academia Puerto Cabello will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Iván López arrives at Academia Puerto Cabello with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Academia Puerto Cabello. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Academia Puerto Cabello opened the door and nobody walked through it. So Daniel Saggiomo stays — listed, trained, and available — while both sides mark the days to January on the same calendar.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Deportivo Armenio will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Nicolás Sánchez 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.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
Enzo Arreguín is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Deportivo Armenio, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Pablo Calderón signs something — a contract at Deportivo Armenio or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Deportivo Armenio 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.
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.
50 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Deportivo Riestra lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Deportivo Riestra, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Mateo Straffurini has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Obredor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
50 goals in these colours now, every one of them somebody’s memory. There is a supporter in the stand who can tell you where he was for most of them.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
Ignacio Arce is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Lautaro Toledo Pacheco and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I did not go to Chengdu Rongcheng to sit and watch. I want to come back to Deportivo Riestra and fight for my place.” 7 appearances in 11 matches say the rest.