Marked for Edison Unocc
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market20 Sep 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 Ayacucho can pretend not to have heard.
Market20 Sep 2027
Jiries Salem has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ayacucho they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad20 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Ayacucho
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jean Pierre Archimbaud was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Raúl Tito 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 Ayacucho this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
Edison Unocc 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 Edison Unocc is on it.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ayacucho, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market23 Aug 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 Ayacucho can pretend not to have heard.
Market23 Aug 2027
Only the photograph left for Jiries Salem
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jiries Salem will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ayacucho the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad23 Aug 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 Ayacucho this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Aug 2027
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 dugout23 Aug 2027
Paul Bashi gets it from the manager
“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.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
Edison Unocc has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Ayacucho 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Jul 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 Ayacucho can pretend not to have heard.
Market26 Jul 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ayacucho is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
Ayacucho close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad26 Jul 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 Ayacucho this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Ayacucho training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jean Pierre Archimbaud 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 targets26 Jul 2027
Ayacucho asked and Uruguay Montevideo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Daniel Tarazona trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout26 Jul 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.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 May 2027
No end in sight to Ayacucho's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ayacucho has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout3 May 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ayacucho may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad3 May 2027
A row about effort at Ayacucho
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jean Pierre Archimbaud was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad3 May 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Fabián Palomino commits to Ayacucho for another 4 years.
Match1 May 2027
A bad afternoon for Ayacucho against UTC
0‑2 to UTC, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Raúl Tito beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad3 May 2027
A falling-out at Ayacucho
Juan Manuel Lovato and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout3 May 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.
The dugout3 May 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Apr 2027
The wait goes on for Ayacucho
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match3 Apr 2027
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 9 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Raúl Tito and Ayacucho agree another 3 years.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Ayacucho training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jean Pierre Archimbaud 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.
Match3 Apr 2027
Cienciano left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Ayacucho
Raúl Tito and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
A performance of 8.18 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Paul Bashi
“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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match3 Mar 2027
Ayacucho through in the cup
A 1‑0 win over Melgar, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Joazhiño Arroé and Ayacucho agree another 2 years.
Match6 Mar 2027
Whatever happens, Ayacucho do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Ayacucho training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Bashi 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Ayacucho
Raúl Tito and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces8 Mar 2027
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Diego Encinas, and the manager let it.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Nobody on the pitch touched Edison Unocc
7.86, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Ayacucho had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.