Marked for Ezequiel Ramírez
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market15 Nov 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Everton de Viña del Mar can pretend not to have heard.
Market15 Nov 2032
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Everton de Viña del Mar they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 Nov 2032
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jerónimo Russo 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.
Squad15 Nov 2032
Agustín Cecconato and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout15 Nov 2032
The manager makes an example of Félix Llano
“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.
The dugout15 Nov 2032
Nobody at Everton de Viña del Mar 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.
Squad15 Nov 2032
Agustín Griguol has seen what the next man earns
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Everton de Viña del Mar that is a harder question to answer.
The dugout15 Nov 2032
Brian Ferrarés knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Brian Ferrarés trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market11 Oct 2032
“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 The request is on a desk at Everton de Viña del Mar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad11 Oct 2032
Pablo Meneses breaks a bone — 40 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 40 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market11 Oct 2032
Alenis Vargas has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Everton de Viña del Mar they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad11 Oct 2032
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and João Felipe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout11 Oct 2032
“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.
Market11 Oct 2032
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad11 Oct 2032
Gian Padilla 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 dugout11 Oct 2032
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Everton de Viña del Mar, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match14 Jun 2032
First, on 39 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Squad14 Jun 2032
53 days out for Jose Sierralta after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Everton de Viña del Mar will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market14 Jun 2032
The offer from O'Higgins for Exequiel Mereles 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 terraces14 Jun 2032
Supporters turn on the $860.0K sale of Brian Rodríguez
He is going to Universidad Catolica, the club has $860.0K 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.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2032
$59.0K settles it between the clubs for Nahuel Yzaurralde
Deportes Temuco have accepted the money. What Everton de Viña del Mar do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Market14 Jun 2032
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market14 Jun 2032
Universidad Catolica pay $860.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad14 Jun 2032
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jerónimo Russo 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.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2032
Everton de Viña del Mar asked and Colo-Colo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market8 Mar 2032
“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 Everton de Viña del Mar, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout8 Mar 2032
Mauro Dávila: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Everton de Viña del Mar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad8 Mar 2032
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jerónimo Russo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad8 Mar 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Everton de Viña del Mar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout8 Mar 2032
“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.
Market8 Mar 2032
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Everton de Viña del Mar, another week without a signature from Nicolás Campisi.
Squad8 Mar 2032
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Everton de Viña del Mar have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
Squad8 Mar 2032
12 new faces, and Everton de Viña del Mar 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.
The dugout8 Mar 2032
Jerónimo Russo knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jerónimo Russo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Feb 2031
14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Everton de Viña del Mar has to find a result from somewhere.
Market24 Feb 2031
“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 Everton de Viña del Mar, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout24 Feb 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Everton de Viña del Mar may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom24 Feb 2031
14 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Squad24 Feb 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Braian Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match22 Feb 2031
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad24 Feb 2031
Jerónimo Russo 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.
Match22 Feb 2031
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.