Cristhián Rivas 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lautaro Ávila 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Estudiantes de Merida, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Estudiantes de Merida 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.
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 Diosmer Pacheco has written the date down.
Estudiantes de Merida have let the market know Lautaro Rivarola can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Andrés Montero plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
In brief
SquadDiosmer Pacheco is training like a man with a point to make
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Estudiantes de Merida this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Estudiantes de Merida has been clear about where Miguel Celis stands, which is more than many ever get.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Estudiantes de Merida know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Estudiantes de Merida will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Armando Rivas trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Estudiantes de Merida lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Adrián Csenterics will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Estudiantes de Merida the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Jesús Hernández 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cristhián Rivas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Diosmer Pacheco and Estudiantes de Merida agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The words a physio says slowly. 85 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Estudiantes de Merida this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Estudiantes de Merida people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bendrix Parra will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Estudiantes de Merida the goodbyes have quietly begun.
$610.0K on the table at Deportivo Tachira. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Estudiantes de Merida had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Independiente Rivadavia, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Bendrix Parra has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Jesús Hernández 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cristhián Rivas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Yonathan del Valle and Mineros de Guayana agree another 2 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Pinto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Juan David Arias 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout8 May 2028
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.” Richard Cordova, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gabriel Monjes. 2‑1 against Estudiantes de Caracas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ángel Peñaranda 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.
4 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Pinto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Caracas left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
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 1‑2 Richard Cordova left the room before anybody could ask which.
Alexander Girón 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Pinto 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Mineros de Guayana will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Emilxon Rodríguez is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“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.
13 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Zulia were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gabriel Monjes provided it, and the 8.78 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mineros de Guayana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 dugout20 Mar 2028
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.” Richard Cordova, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mineros de Guayana, and both men came out saying it was fine.
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Mineros de Guayana has to find a result from somewhere.
8 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
José Pinto 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.
“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 dugout21 Feb 2028
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.” Richard Cordova chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mineros de Guayana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ángel Peñaranda 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.
6 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Mineros de Guayana are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mineros de Guayana, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Mineros de Guayana, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets3 Jan 2028
$180.0K settles it between the clubs for Jorge Pinto
Aragua have accepted the money. What Mineros de Guayana do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Alexander Girón has just signed for Mineros de Guayana, and for once the answer mattered.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Mineros de Guayana will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad3 Jan 2028
José Pinto 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.
“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 Mineros de Guayana, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Deportivo Tachira 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Pinto 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.
Diosmer Pacheco 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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
“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 Mineros de Guayana, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Mineros de Guayana have done the hard part with Estudiantes de Merida, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mineros de Guayana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Miller Bacca has moved up it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Mineros de Guayana, another week without a signature from Brandon Sosa.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Pinto 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mineros de Guayana, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Aquiles Ocanto 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Juan Méndez and Mineros de Guayana agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Mineros de Guayana have no good answer.
“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 Mineros de Guayana, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mineros de Guayana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mineros de Guayana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Nov 2027
José Pinto 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.