Marked for Leandro Silva
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Iquique
Agustín Venezia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Zacarías López, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Iquique training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brayan Garrido 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
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 Anthony Henriquez is on it.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Diego Orellana has written the date down.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Dylan Arias 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
There were 14 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match12 Aug 2026
Iquique out of the cup
Audax Italiano ended it 2‑3. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Match12 Aug 2026
Iquique throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Audax Italiano the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Iquique will enjoy reviewing.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Marked 7.73 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Agustín Venezia 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Pablo Palacio 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. 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 dugout17 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Ivan Montecinos chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Aug 2026
6 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Agustín Venezia commits to Iquique for another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Iquique
Diego Orellana 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Pablo Palacio 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Brayan Garrido, and the manager let it.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ivan Montecinos after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Market3 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Miguel Binimelis has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Iquique.