Alan Brítez

Central Midfielder - Union La Calera
23 Oct 2027
Saturday
Process

Marked for Alan Brítez

56 Edition

The Union La Calera Gazette

23 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Axel Encinas has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Union La Calera they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Player ratings

Alan Brítez was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 22. 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Union La Calera

Francisco Pozzo 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.

Squad

Juan Pablo Salomoni 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.

Player ratings

Bayron Oyarzo was the difference for Union La Calera

Marked 7.89. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Axel Encinas

“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.

Match

Union La Calera share the spoils with Audax Italiano

A 1‑1 draw with Audax Italiano leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

The dugout

Alexis Aravena on the point

“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Alexis Aravena after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.

The dugout

Yerko Leiva does not fit this one

Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.

In brief

Back issues
51 Edition

The Union La Calera Gazette

19 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Nowhere to hide for Union La Calera

0‑3 against Universidad Catolica, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.

Match

No end in sight to Union La Calera's wait for a win

4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Union La Calera has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

Nicolás Avellaneda 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 Union La Calera this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Union La Calera training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Pablo Salomoni 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.

Boardroom

Inquest at Union La Calera

The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.

The dugout

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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Alexis Aravena to a room that had heard them before.

The dugout

Nicolás Palma 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.

Squad

Bookings catch up with Yerko Leiva

One yellow too many, and a match watched from the stand. The most avoidable absence in football, and Union La Calera will feel it on Saturday.

Player ratings

Christopher Díaz runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

In brief

47 Edition

The Union La Calera Gazette

21 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Matías Campos López, 35, rolls back the years — 7.94

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.94 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Market

Vicente Rojas puts it in writing

“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 Union La Calera, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Nicolás Avellaneda 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 Union La Calera this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Union La Calera training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Pablo Salomoni 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.

Match

Union La Calera find a way past Iquique

Iquique made Union La Calera work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Player ratings

Kevin Méndez 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.

Player ratings

Christopher Díaz runs at them all day

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 dugout

The view from the dugout

“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Alexis Aravena, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.

Looking ahead

Union La Calera take on the side everybody is chasing

Palestino arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.

In brief

43 Edition

The Union La Calera Gazette

24 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Chastening afternoon for Union La Calera

A 0‑3 beating by Universidad de Chile was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Squad

Nicolás Avellaneda 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 Union La Calera this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Union La Calera

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Pablo Salomoni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Nicolás Avellaneda

“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.

Match

The half-term report on Union La Calera

Position 5, 22 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.

Boardroom

Nobody left the Union La Calera dressing room in a hurry

The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Alexis Aravena left the room before anybody could ask which.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Christopher Díaz

Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

The dugout

The manager has not finished forgetting Alan Brítez's mistake

Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.

In brief

39 Edition

The Union La Calera Gazette

26 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Nicolás Avellaneda 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 Union La Calera this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Yerko Leiva the difference as Union La Calera beat Universidad de Concepcion

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Yerko Leiva. 2‑1 against Universidad de Concepcion, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Player ratings

Christopher Díaz runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Words at Union La Calera training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristián Gutiérrez 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 ratings

The afternoon belonged to Kevin Méndez

A mark of 7.85, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Alexis Aravena, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.

The dugout

No hiding place for Nelson Espinoza

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nelson Espinoza, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Alan Brítez is still paying for one afternoon at Union La Calera

Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.

Looking ahead

A reunion for Matías Campos López

He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against San Marcos de Arica in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.

In brief

35 Edition

The Union La Calera Gazette

29 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Matías Campos López damages knee ligaments — 38 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 38 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.

Match

No end in sight to Union La Calera's wait for a win

5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Union La Calera has to find a result from somewhere.

Player ratings

Christopher Díaz was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 22. 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.

Squad

Juan Pablo Salomoni 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 Union La Calera this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Kevin Méndez

Marked 8.02 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

Match

Union La Calera share the spoils with Huachipato

A 1‑1 draw with Huachipato leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Alexis Aravena on the draw

“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.

The dugout

No hiding place for Jorge Peña

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jorge Peña, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Alan Brítez is still paying for one afternoon at Union La Calera

Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.

In brief

34 Edition

The Union La Calera Gazette

22 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Matías Campos López

45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Union La Calera lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

Union La Calera bow out of the cup

Audax Italiano go through and Union La Calera go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.

Squad

6 saves: Nelson Espinoza was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Match

No end in sight to Union La Calera's wait for a win

4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Union La Calera has to find a result from somewhere.

Match

Union La Calera cannot find the net

4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.

Squad

Words at Union La Calera training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Pablo Salomoni 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 ratings

Christopher Díaz runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Matías Campos López 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 Union La Calera this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Santiago Wanderers take the points off Union La Calera

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

In brief

26 Edition

The Union La Calera Gazette

25 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Nicolás Avellaneda 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 Union La Calera this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Nelson Espinoza

“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 dugout

When it matters, Francisco Pozzo plays

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.

In brief

21 Edition

The Union La Calera Gazette

21 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Huachipato come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Union La Calera did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Juan Pablo Salomoni 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Union La Calera

Francisco Pozzo 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 dugout

Nelson Espinoza 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.

Market

The Kevin Méndez question follows Union La Calera around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Kevin Méndez’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Market

The shop window has Joaquín Soto in it

Union La Calera have let the market know Joaquín Soto can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.

The dugout

The manager makes Carlo Villanueva a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Union La Calera. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

The dugout

Valentino Torrente 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 Valentino Torrente trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

The manager comes out for Nicolás Ferreyra

Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Nicolás Ferreyra has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.

In brief

4 Edition

The Union La Calera Gazette

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Union La Calera bow out of the cup

Palestino go through and Union La Calera go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.

Player ratings

Alan Brítez runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Words exchanged at Union La Calera

Nicolás Avellaneda 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.

Squad

Juan Pablo Salomoni 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 dugout

No hiding place for Nicolás Palma

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicolás Palma, and the manager let it.

The dugout

When it matters, Nicolás Avellaneda plays

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 dugout

Nicolás Ferreyra 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 Union La Calera, and both men came out saying it was fine.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Alexis Aravena on the draw

“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.

Match

Point won or two lost for Union La Calera?

Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Audax Italiano? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.

In brief