94 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Deportivo Miranda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 45 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Luisbert Salazar 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 Brayan Morales was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Frank Murillo has his answer from Deportivo Miranda; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The words a physio says slowly. 110 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.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
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.
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 Miranda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
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.
Deportivo Miranda asked and Monagas 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 borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Junior Paredes 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.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Words at Trujillanos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabián Chaverra 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.
Trujillanos asked and Estudiantes de Merida said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nobody at Trujillanos 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.
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.
Commercial news is the news nobody sings about and everything else is paid for with. The board will call it a partnership; the accountants will call it the difference between this squad and a smaller one.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Trujillanos, another week without a signature from Luis El Khuffash.
117 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Deportivo Miranda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Carabobo keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Deportivo Miranda has to find a result from somewhere.
Luisbert Salazar 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 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 now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. La Equidad have kept their man, and Deportivo Miranda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Marítimo de La Guaira the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Deportivo Miranda will enjoy reviewing.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Deportivo Miranda can pretend not to have heard.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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 Miranda 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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 39 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brayan Morales was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zamora have kept their man, and Deportivo Miranda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 11 actions, 6.92, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Diego Reyes.
The deal with Anzoátegui 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.
José Velásquez 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.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Yaracuyanos were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
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.
Deportivo Miranda asked and Monagas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Deportivo Miranda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Deportivo Miranda had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Marítimo de La Guaira, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brayan Morales 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.
Deportivo Miranda asked and Vélez said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
José Dario Ascanio 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Deportivo Miranda can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Deportivo Miranda asked and Zamora said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Velásquez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 34 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
The phone has started ringing about Gabriel Fermín again, and this time the name on the line is Rayo Zuliano. Deportivo Miranda are listening politely and promising nothing.
Deportivo Miranda have made the call to Deportes Temuco. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Luis Rincon has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
José Velásquez 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 gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
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 now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Anzoátegui have kept their man, and Deportivo Miranda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Luisbert Salazar 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 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Yonner Borges has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Marked 7.01 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Deportivo Miranda told Diego Reyes something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Luis Rincon after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Luisbert Salazar 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 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.
Everybody at Deportivo Miranda saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 34 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Luis Rincon after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alberson Rodríguez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Héctor Herrera scored in the 88th minute, Aragua had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Deportivo Miranda took the lot.
Position 3, 26 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Deportivo Miranda can pretend not to have heard.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” José Dario Ascanio and Deportivo Miranda agree another 2 years.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
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.
Cristopher Valenzuela 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 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.
José Dario Ascanio 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 39 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
José Velásquez 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between Deportivo Miranda and Academia Puerto Cabello B, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Chances created: 16. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brayan Morales was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two goals and a mark of 8.69 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Brayan Morales 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 Velásquez 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Deportivo Miranda is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Marked 8.03 — 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.
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.
At 33, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
A 1‑1 draw with Bolívar leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
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.” Luis Rincon chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Brayan Morales trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kleyder Barreto and Deportivo Miranda agree another 4 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brayan Morales 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
The manager has a list and the board has a condition attached to it. That is not a crisis — half of football works this way — but it decides which of the two of them gets his way in August.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is José Velásquez’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Deportivo Miranda needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Brayan Morales 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 José Velásquez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Deportivo Miranda told Gabriel Fermín something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the Deportivo Miranda squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.
In brief
Player ratingsThe whistle followed José Velásquez around
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brayan Morales 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.
Frank Murillo 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
10 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Lucas Massaccesi has, at Deportivo Miranda, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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 Miranda 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.
Marked 8.10 — 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Luis Rincon could afford to be generous.
Out, 1‑2 to Titanes Guanare, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Brayan Morales 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.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Luis Rincon to a room that had heard them before.
José Velásquez 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 Brayan Morales was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings19 Feb 2029
Kleyder Barreto was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. 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.
Minute 86, against Titanes Guanare, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Luis Rincon was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Deportivo Miranda dressing room was either.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Deportivo Miranda will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
13 combined actions and 6.50. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
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.
9 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 dugout12 Feb 2029
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 Luis Rincon to a room that had heard them before.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Deportivo Miranda will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
“The easiest signature of my career.” José Velásquez and Deportivo Miranda agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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 Miranda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Luis Arenas was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.38. 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.
Everybody at Deportivo Miranda saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 38 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Luisbert Salazar is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
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.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 88th, and Mineros de Guayana spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
José Velásquez 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.
9 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brayan Morales was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 20 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 end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Junior Ramirez clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brayan Morales 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Miranda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Miguel Ferraresi has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Junior Murillo has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Carabobo moved on, Gabriel Fermín reports back to Deportivo Miranda, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brayan Morales was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Deportes Limache have kept their man, and Deportivo Miranda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Brayan Morales was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Deportivo Miranda have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Brayan Morales 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.
Deportivo Miranda offered $25.0K; Aragua said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $210.0K for Yonner Borges, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Dario Ascanio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Deportivo Miranda can pretend not to have heard.
Deportivo Miranda had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Deportivo La Guaira, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
$25.0K on the table at Aragua. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
José Velásquez 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.
Deportivo Miranda asked and Deportivo Tachira said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Néstor Trejo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Deportivo Miranda know which stage they are at.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 121 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.
The offer from Carabobo for Gabriel Fermín was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Dario Ascanio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Deportivo Miranda this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Deportivo Miranda waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Trujillanos is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Junior Paredes 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 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.
Trujillanos asked and Talleres said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Fabián Chaverra trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Geremías Meléndez arrived with a record at a bigger club than this one, and the room has treated him accordingly. The young ones watch him train; the senior ones watch to see whether it lasts.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Trujillanos, another week without a signature from Favio Funes.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until José Rivas Gamboa signs something — a contract at Trujillanos or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 128 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.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
“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 Deportivo Miranda, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 Miranda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Deportivo Miranda, another week without a signature from Gastón Segovia.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Deportivo Miranda have made the call to Deportivo Tachira. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Brayan Morales is in the works
The phone has started ringing about Brayan Morales again, and this time the name on the line is Deportivo Miranda. Trujillanos are listening politely and promising nothing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trujillanos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin González was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Trujillanos asked and Vélez 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Tabaré Benítez has his answer from Trujillanos; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Loan watch4 Dec 2028
Carlos Gil is tired of being somebody else's player
“Another season, another badge, another dressing room to win over. I would like one pre-season at Trujillanos where somebody actually looks at me.” He belongs to Landskrona BoIS until the spell ends; the argument is with the club that owns him.
Junior Paredes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Trujillanos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Landaeta 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.
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Grey Montiel commits to Trujillanos for another 3 years.
Squad27 Nov 2028
5 new faces, and Trujillanos are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Junior Paredes 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 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.
Fabián Chaverra and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Words at Trujillanos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Landaeta 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.
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. Jhovany González has moved up it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Trujillanos. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Trujillanos know which stage they are at.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jose Otero trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Tabaré Benítez 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 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Fabián Chaverra trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Brayan Morales has written the date down.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tabaré Benítez signs something — a contract at Trujillanos or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Eduardo Herrera has written the date down.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Trujillanos the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Pedro Valdés
Junior Paredes 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Trujillanos, and 8 appearances in 24 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at Trujillanos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Landaeta 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.
Loan watch25 Sep 2028
José Febres’s loan is measured in nothing happening
8 clean sheets from 29 appearances at Atlético El Vigía. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Trujillanos, 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 Trujillanos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trujillanos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Every summer it is another club, another set of team-mates, another manager to convince. I have done all that. Now I want a pre-season at Trujillanos and a proper look at me.” He remains Landskrona BoIS’s player until the spell runs out — but the argument is with the club that owns 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.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Trujillanos know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Fabián Chaverra trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Trujillanos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Everybody at Trujillanos saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Trujillanos were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at Trujillanos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Landaeta 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 Trujillanos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Trujillanos know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Trujillanos will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trujillanos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at Trujillanos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin González 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 Trujillanos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Fabián Chaverra has written the date down.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Jhovany González arrives at Trujillanos with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
68 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Trujillanos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Trujillanos, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Real Frontera keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
$32.0K on the table at Deportivo Miranda. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Trujillanos offered $89.0K; UCV said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Trujillanos is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
76 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Trujillanos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Trujillanos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything agreed with Real Frontera, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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.
Trujillanos asked and Monagas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trujillanos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marítimo de La Guaira have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Sebastián Miño is in the works
83 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Trujillanos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Trujillanos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin González was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
91 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Trujillanos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Edison Penilla 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.
Everybody at Trujillanos saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Richard Gonzalez after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Academia Puerto Cabello.
Academia Puerto Cabello next, and one man in the Trujillanos dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The words a physio says slowly. 105 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Trujillanos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Junior Paredes 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 Kevin González was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 22 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Richard Gonzalez could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Enderson Abreu
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Trujillanos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
6 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trujillanos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout20 Mar 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 0‑1 Richard Gonzalez left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Trujillanos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 16 actions, 6.70, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
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.
Carlos Gil 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Atlanta United FC will make the call about Carlos Gil this week. Trujillanos have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
The dugout6 Mar 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 0‑1 Richard Gonzalez left the room before anybody could ask which.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Trujillanos told Javier Otero something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trujillanos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Trujillanos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin González 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Zamora in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexander Guerra will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Trujillanos the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Alexander Guerra 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Brayan Morales and Trujillanos agree another 3 years.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Greyberth Trompetera has his answer from Trujillanos; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. José Rivas Gamboa is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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.
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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Trujillanos and Monagas in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. David Linarez has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The dugout31 Jan 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 Gonzalez, on a 4‑3 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Fabián Chaverra 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until José Rivas Gamboa signs something — a contract at Trujillanos or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Trujillanos have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Conrado Ibarra 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 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 now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Deportivo Tachira have kept their man, and Trujillanos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
6 goals in 28 games at Barquisimeto — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Trujillanos updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Trujillanos know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
Conrado Ibarra 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 Fabián Chaverra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Brayan Morales trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trujillanos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Trujillanos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin González 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 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.
Fabián Chaverra 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Trujillanos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Brayan Morales has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trujillanos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Trujillanos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Trujillanos know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.