Marked for Edgar González
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout14 Jun 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Deportivo Capiata may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
The deal with Nacional is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
Rodrigo Ramírez scored one and made one — 7.93
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.93, and 2 involvements.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Maximiliano Añasco 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.
Match12 Jun 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Deportivo Capiata and Sportivo Ameliano, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Match12 Jun 2027
2‑4 to Sportivo Ameliano, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carlos Martínez Guillén was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yehider Ibargüen, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Apr 2027
Richard Rios 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maximiliano Añasco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces19 Apr 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 ratings19 Apr 2027
Ninety minutes of Jesús Cáceres at his very best
Marked 8.78. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Deportivo Capiata.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Carlos Martínez Guillén, and the manager let it.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Ninety minutes of Edgar González at his very best
Marked 8.30. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Deportivo Capiata.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
A performance of 8.13 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Feb 2027
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Deportivo Capiata lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Adrián Reta and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Maximiliano Añasco 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.
Match13 Feb 2027
1‑2 to River Plate, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Walter Gaona
“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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
8 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.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Pablo Fernandez to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. 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 dugout15 Feb 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Crispín Oviedo
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Feb 2027
Marcos Caballero damages knee ligaments — 24 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 24 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.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
A brace, and Edgar González takes the afternoon — 8.61
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Edgar González provided it, and the 8.61 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Adrián Reta 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 Deportivo Capiata this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
2 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Deportivo Capiata training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Martínez Guillén 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 terraces8 Feb 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Angel Enciso is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market8 Feb 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jose Fernandez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.