Marked for Daniel Sepúlveda
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces29 Mar 2027
Supporters organise against the Antofagasta 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.
Market29 Mar 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 The request is on a desk at Antofagasta, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Leandro Iglesias and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Antofagasta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zacarías Abu habda 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
41 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Josepablo Monreal, and the manager let it.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Diego Rojas 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 Diego Rojas is on it.
Looking ahead29 Mar 2027
Union La Calera next, and one man in the Antofagasta dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match17 Mar 2027
O'Higgins ended it 1‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.32 for the rest of it.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Fabricio Díaz and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mathías Suárez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad22 Mar 2027
200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Brayan Hurtado
“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.
Match20 Mar 2027
A goal on 90 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Antofagasta are still strangers to each other
14 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market8 Feb 2027
“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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Fabricio Díaz 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A move Tobías Schiavo would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Tobías Schiavo is living that version at Antofagasta, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mathías Suárez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. All Boys have kept their man, and Antofagasta go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
No place for Yoel Marchi in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Antofagasta are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout8 Feb 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
A season-long audition: Vélez still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are Antofagasta's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
Market8 Feb 2027
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Daniel Sepúlveda arrives at Antofagasta with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.