Marked for Alejandro Santander
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match25 Sep 2028
First, on 59 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.
Market25 Sep 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cobresal can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
“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.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words exchanged at Cobresal
Antonio Castillo 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.
Squad25 Sep 2028
A row about effort at Cobresal
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nazareno Kihm was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
José Tiznado gets picked when it counts
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 José Tiznado is on it.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
“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.
Market25 Sep 2028
Cobresal have made Felipe Chamorro available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Squad25 Sep 2028
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Oct 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Cobresal, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Christian Moreno 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Gonzalo Larghi 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 dugout25 Oct 2027
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.
Match25 Oct 2027
Continental football is in reach for Cobresal
47 points from position 4. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
Market25 Oct 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Esteban Valencia may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The manager makes Andy Aguilera a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Cobresal. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rodrigo Sandoval trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad25 Oct 2027
The training reports on Lucas Di Maio are not good
A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match20 Sep 2027
Cobresal finish in position 4
47 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Jorge Pinos in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cobresal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
This is not rotation. Franco Bechtholdt has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Cobresal is pretending otherwise.
Squad20 Sep 2027
200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Cobresal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. César Yanis 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.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“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.
Match18 Sep 2027
Level with 88 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Cobresal had all but put away. San Marcos de Arica will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Marked 7.76 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Cobresal had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout6 Sep 2027
This is not rotation. Julián Brea has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Cobresal is pretending otherwise.
Squad6 Sep 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cobresal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch6 Sep 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Cobresal, and 0 appearances in 37 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Cobresal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. César Yanis 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 dugout6 Sep 2027
“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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Ignacio Moreno has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Looking ahead6 Sep 2027
A test against the best for Cobresal
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Antofagasta.
Squad6 Sep 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Cobresal will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
César Yanis 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 Cobresal, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match3 Jul 2027
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Market5 Jul 2027
“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 Cobresal, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings5 Jul 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.89 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Christian Moreno 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.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Cobresal asked and Platense said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Loan watch5 Jul 2027
“I did not go to Universidad de Concepcion to sit and watch. I want to come back to Cobresal and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 28 matches say the rest.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
“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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Cobresal
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and César Yanis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Appearance number 100 for Franco Frías
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 May 2027
Words exchanged at Cobresal
Christian Moreno 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.
Match1 May 2027
A 2‑1 win over Curicó Unido, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Loan watch3 May 2027
“I watch every Cobresal game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Universidad de Concepcion runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The terraces3 May 2027
He is 23 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.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Franco Frías was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.36. 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.
Squad3 May 2027
A row about effort at Cobresal
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and César Yanis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout3 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Antonio Castillo, and the manager let it.
Squad3 May 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Franco Frías
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Franco Frías has come out of that comparison in the side, and Cobresal have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
A promise honoured at Cobresal
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Squad
“I want to play”: Santiago Uriza speaks
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces1 Mar 2027
The mood at Cobresal has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Cobresal may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market1 Mar 2027
Bryan Carvallo wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Cobresal hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad1 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cobresal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch1 Mar 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Cobresal, and 0 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
Match27 Feb 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Cobresal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. César Yanis 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.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
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.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Universidad de Concepcion have done the hard part with Talleres, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Racing Club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Lucas Cuevas 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.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Talleres have kept their man, and Universidad de Concepcion go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristhofer Mesías 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Racing Club: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad25 Jan 2027
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Universidad de Concepcion know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Iam González 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 Iam González trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Benjamin Nunez out for 38 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cobresal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market28 Dec 2026
“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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Cobresal
Christian Moreno and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets28 Dec 2026
$320.0K was the most the club would pay and Antofagasta were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Transfer targets28 Dec 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Almirante Brown have kept their man, and Cobresal go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Cobresal
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julián Brea was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Dec 2026
At 36, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Transfer targets28 Dec 2026
Rosario Central have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Lucas Di Maio
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom14 Dec 2026
The season a town measures the next twenty against. The trophy comes home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days ago.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Miguel Barbieri 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Facundo Mater 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.
Transfer targets14 Dec 2026
Cobresal have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets14 Dec 2026
Talleres have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets14 Dec 2026
A loan enquiry to Talleres: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Yerco Oyanedel asks for a word with the manager
“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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Universidad de Concepcion will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces7 Dec 2026
Supporters organise against the Cobresal board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market7 Dec 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cobresal can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 Dec 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad7 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cobresal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets7 Dec 2026
Cobresal asked and Vélez said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market7 Dec 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Cobresal have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Cobresal
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julián Brea was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nicolás Carvajal commits to Cobresal for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market30 Nov 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sergio Carrasco will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cobresal the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Cobresal
Christian Moreno and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Cobresal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julián Brea 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Cobresal are still strangers to each other
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Cobresal will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“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.