Marked for Máximo Munarriz
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Apr 2036
348 appearances across 14 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Market7 Apr 2036
“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 The request is on a desk at O'Higgins, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market7 Apr 2036
Ahmed Jafeli has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around O'Higgins they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad7 Apr 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at O'Higgins this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings7 Apr 2036
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match5 Apr 2036
Universidad Catolica left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 Apr 2036
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isac 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.
Market7 Apr 2036
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether O'Higgins can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The dugout7 Apr 2036
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Mar 2036
A European night to remember for O'Higgins
1‑0 against Boca Juniors, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Market24 Mar 2036
“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 The request is on a desk at O'Higgins, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 Mar 2036
Words exchanged at O'Higgins
Felipe Faúndez 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.
Market24 Mar 2036
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Vicente Vega wants continental football; whether O'Higgins can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Match22 Mar 2036
Whatever happens, O'Higgins do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad24 Mar 2036
Vicente Poggi 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.
Match22 Mar 2036
The run is over for O'Higgins
5 matches without defeat, and then Cobreloa. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Squad24 Mar 2036
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The dugout24 Mar 2036
“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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market25 Feb 2036
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around O'Higgins people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Match23 Feb 2036
Nobody wants to play O'Higgins right now
6 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.
Market25 Feb 2036
“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.
Squad25 Feb 2036
Pol Fortuny 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.
Match23 Feb 2036
Three points for O'Higgins, 2‑1 the final word against Ñublense in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Match23 Feb 2036
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for O'Higgins. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Squad25 Feb 2036
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isac 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 ratings25 Feb 2036
Maximiliano Gutiérrez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. 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 ratings25 Feb 2036
Santiago Grella was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.10. 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market28 Jan 2036
“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.
Squad28 Jan 2036
Pol Fortuny 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.
Market28 Jan 2036
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Vicente Vega wants continental football; whether O'Higgins can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad28 Jan 2036
A row about effort at O'Higgins
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isac was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Jan 2036
Felipe Faúndez has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at O'Higgins 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 dugout28 Jan 2036
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Prince Adu Kwabena trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout28 Jan 2036
Kevin Colli is still being punished for one mistake
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.
Market28 Jan 2036
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market28 Jan 2036
The Isac story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Isac signs something — a contract at O'Higgins or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market14 Jan 2036
Alan Cisnero hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what O'Higgins can pretend not to have heard.
Market14 Jan 2036
O'Higgins say no — this time
The offer from Fernando de la Mora for Fabrizio Sartori 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.
Market14 Jan 2036
Ahmed Jafeli has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around O'Higgins they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad14 Jan 2036
Pol Fortuny and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market14 Jan 2036
The deal that would have taken Axel Afonso to Ñublense has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to O'Higgins with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Boardroom14 Jan 2036
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.
Squad14 Jan 2036
A row about effort at O'Higgins
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isac was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad14 Jan 2036
O'Higgins are still strangers to each other
11 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.
The dugout14 Jan 2036
Matías Arezo 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 Matías Arezo is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 Dec 2035
Santiago Gauna damages knee ligaments — 15 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
Transfer targets24 Dec 2035
The clubs have shaken hands with Botafogo; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Match24 Dec 2035
The view from the top for O'Higgins
75 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Market24 Dec 2035
Isac 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 O'Higgins, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market24 Dec 2035
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around O'Higgins people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets24 Dec 2035
O'Higgins asked and Hammarby said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market24 Dec 2035
O'Higgins say no — this time
The offer from Audax Italiano for Prince Adu Kwabena 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.
Market24 Dec 2035
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Máximo Munarriz had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Transfer targets24 Dec 2035
The offer went to Union Espanola this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match28 Jul 2035
The run at home goes on for O'Higgins
18 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Match25 Jul 2035
O'Higgins march on in the cup
Cobresal are out and O'Higgins go through, 4‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match28 Jul 2035
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑0 against Deportes Copiapó, and it could have been more.
Player ratings30 Jul 2035
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.11, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market30 Jul 2035
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around O'Higgins people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Player ratings30 Jul 2035
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.41, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market30 Jul 2035
O'Higgins say no — this time
The offer from Cobreloa for Marcos Luna 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.
Market30 Jul 2035
Felipe Yáñez has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around O'Higgins they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market30 Jul 2035
Omar Carabalí hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what O'Higgins can pretend not to have heard.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad26 Mar 2035
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. O'Higgins lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match24 Mar 2035
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Universidad Catolica, and it could have been more.
Market26 Mar 2035
“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.
Player ratings26 Mar 2035
A defender's goal wins it for O'Higgins — 7.95
3 for Maximiliano Luayza Koot, marked 7.95, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad26 Mar 2035
The match ball belongs to Maximiliano Luayza Koot, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Market26 Mar 2035
Samuel Pires has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around O'Higgins they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match24 Mar 2035
Nobody wants to play O'Higgins right now
3 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.
Squad26 Mar 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at O'Higgins this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad19 Mar 2035
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. O'Higgins lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match15 Mar 2035
O'Higgins do the business in Europe
1‑0. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and O'Higgins came through the finding-out well against Independiente.
Match15 Mar 2035
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation O'Higgins did not have in the autumn.
Market19 Mar 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at O'Higgins is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Mar 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at O'Higgins this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout19 Mar 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Franjo Ivanović, and the manager let it.
Squad19 Mar 2035
A row about effort at O'Higgins
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isac was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings19 Mar 2035
Pol Fortuny was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.18. 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.
Market19 Mar 2035
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Mar 2035
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. O'Higgins lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout12 Mar 2035
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match7 Mar 2035
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 87th, and Cobreloa spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Market12 Mar 2035
Pedrão hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what O'Higgins can pretend not to have heard.
Match10 Mar 2035
Still nobody has beaten O'Higgins
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Market12 Mar 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at O'Higgins is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market12 Mar 2035
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Vicente Vega wants continental football; whether O'Higgins can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad12 Mar 2035
Pol Fortuny 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 O'Higgins this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match10 Mar 2035
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for O'Higgins. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad5 Mar 2035
Máximo Munarriz damages knee ligaments — 36 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 36 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.
Match3 Mar 2035
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 89th, and Palestino spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Match3 Mar 2035
Nobody wants to play O'Higgins right now
6 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.
Market5 Mar 2035
“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.
Player ratings5 Mar 2035
Isac pops up at the right end — 7.80
7.80, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Market5 Mar 2035
Kevin Pavía has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around O'Higgins they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad5 Mar 2035
Pol Fortuny 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 dugout5 Mar 2035
“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.
Squad5 Mar 2035
Isac 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad26 Feb 2035
Máximo Munarriz damages knee ligaments — 43 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 43 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.
Match22 Feb 2035
1‑0 against Independiente, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Franjo Ivanović was at the centre of the description.
Market26 Feb 2035
“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 O'Higgins, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Feb 2035
7 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.
Match25 Feb 2035
O'Higgins cannot stop winning
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Market26 Feb 2035
Samuel Pires has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around O'Higgins they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad26 Feb 2035
Words exchanged at O'Higgins
Pol Fortuny 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.
Squad26 Feb 2035
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isac 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Feb 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Máximo Munarriz
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. O'Higgins lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings19 Feb 2035
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.23, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market19 Feb 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at O'Higgins is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Feb 2035
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at O'Higgins can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Match17 Feb 2035
O'Higgins make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now O'Higgins have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad19 Feb 2035
Pol Fortuny and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match17 Feb 2035
Three points for O'Higgins, 3‑1 the final word against Ñublense in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Market19 Feb 2035
Pedrão wants European nights
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Player ratings19 Feb 2035
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.13, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Feb 2035
58 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. O'Higgins lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match10 Feb 2035
4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings12 Feb 2035
A brace, and Franjo Ivanović takes the afternoon — 8.09
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Franjo Ivanović provided it, and the 8.09 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market12 Feb 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at O'Higgins is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad12 Feb 2035
Felipe Faúndez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom12 Feb 2035
7 academy players handed senior numbers at O'Higgins
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad12 Feb 2035
A row about effort at O'Higgins
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isac was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Feb 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Phillipe Gabriel, and the manager let it.
Market12 Feb 2035
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Felipe Jara 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Feb 2035
65 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. O'Higgins lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market5 Feb 2035
“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 O'Higgins, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market5 Feb 2035
Kevin Pavía has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around O'Higgins they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad5 Feb 2035
Vicente Poggi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market5 Feb 2035
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad5 Feb 2035
“The easiest signature of my career.” Marcos Luna and O'Higgins agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Feb 2035
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isac 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.
Market5 Feb 2035
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout5 Feb 2035
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 Ignacio Maestro Puch is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Jan 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Máximo Munarriz
72 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. O'Higgins lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market29 Jan 2035
Samuel Pires has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around O'Higgins they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad29 Jan 2035
Prince Adu Kwabena 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.
Market29 Jan 2035
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Arturo Vargas 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.
Market29 Jan 2035
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Sebastian Osorio 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.
Market29 Jan 2035
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Eduardo Suazo 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.
Squad29 Jan 2035
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Morán 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 dugout29 Jan 2035
Pol Fortuny 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 Pol Fortuny is on it.
The dugout29 Jan 2035
The manager has not finished forgetting Pedrão'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
-
The dugout
The manager makes Marcos Luna a promise
-
The dugout
Pedrão asks for a word with the manager
-
Boardroom
The O'Higgins production line keeps running
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Jan 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Máximo Munarriz
79 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. O'Higgins lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market22 Jan 2035
Juan Morán has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around O'Higgins they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market22 Jan 2035
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether O'Higgins can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad22 Jan 2035
Vicente Poggi 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.
Squad22 Jan 2035
Isac 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 dugout22 Jan 2035
Marcos Luna 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.
Squad22 Jan 2035
A muscle injury sidelines Felipe Massri for 15 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. O'Higgins will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The dugout22 Jan 2035
Vicente Poggi has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at O'Higgins 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 dugout22 Jan 2035
Omar Carabalí is still being punished for one mistake
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Jan 2035
Máximo Munarriz damages knee ligaments — 87 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 87 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.
Match15 Jan 2035
The view from the top for O'Higgins
79 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Market15 Jan 2035
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. O'Higgins have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market15 Jan 2035
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what O'Higgins can pretend not to have heard.
Market15 Jan 2035
O'Higgins say no — this time
The offer from Villa Dálmine for Juan Morán 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.
Market15 Jan 2035
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at O'Higgins hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad15 Jan 2035
Pol Fortuny 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 O'Higgins this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets15 Jan 2035
Universidad de Chile wanted more than $520.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad15 Jan 2035
A row about effort at O'Higgins
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isac was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Jan 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Máximo Munarriz
95 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. O'Higgins lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market8 Jan 2035
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Independiente Medellin waiting with a shirt. Nobody at O'Higgins is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Boardroom8 Jan 2035
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $235.6K of what O'Higgins paid for Bryan González is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
Market8 Jan 2035
“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.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2035
Colo-Colo wanted more than $2.0M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Market8 Jan 2035
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at O'Higgins heard it as anything else.
Squad8 Jan 2035
“The easiest signature of my career.” Franjo Ivanović and O'Higgins agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2035
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad8 Jan 2035
Pol Fortuny 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 O'Higgins this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Jan 2035
Máximo Munarriz damages knee ligaments — 102 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 102 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.
Market1 Jan 2035
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around O'Higgins people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market1 Jan 2035
Cerro Porteno pay $15.1M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Transfer targets1 Jan 2035
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Penarol is saying, and nobody at O'Higgins is enjoying the guessing.
Squad1 Jan 2035
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. O'Higgins will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Transfer targets1 Jan 2035
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tigre have kept their man, and O'Higgins go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces1 Jan 2035
Supporters turn on the $15.1M sale of Máximo Perrone
He is going to Cerro Porteno, the club has $15.1M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Transfer targets1 Jan 2035
The offer went to Colo-Colo this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The dugout1 Jan 2035
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” O'Higgins may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Dec 2034
Máximo Munarriz damages knee ligaments — 109 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 109 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.
Market25 Dec 2034
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. O'Higgins have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market25 Dec 2034
The bid was some way short and O'Higgins did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets25 Dec 2034
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market25 Dec 2034
“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.
Boardroom25 Dec 2034
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Jose Diaz has agreed terms with Deportes Recoleta for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad25 Dec 2034
Felipe Faúndez 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.
Squad25 Dec 2034
Pedro Paillalef gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Pedro Paillalef has just signed for O'Higgins, and for once the answer mattered.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match12 Dec 2034
O'Higgins announce themselves in Europe
3‑0 against Nacional, on a night that will be replayed at this club for a generation. Continental reputations are made in single evenings and this was the evening.
Squad18 Dec 2034
116 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. O'Higgins lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market18 Dec 2034
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. O'Higgins have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets18 Dec 2034
No thanks: Yuto Ozeki rejects the move
O'Higgins had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Gamba Osaka, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Match18 Dec 2034
The view from the top for O'Higgins
79 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Transfer targets18 Dec 2034
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tigres have kept their man, and O'Higgins go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets18 Dec 2034
$4.5M on the table at Penarol. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Market18 Dec 2034
Iquique come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and O'Higgins did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings18 Dec 2034
Up for the corner, and Máximo Perrone delivers — 7.98
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Máximo Perrone scored, was marked 7.98, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom11 Dec 2034
This is the season the town will measure the next twenty against. The trophy travels home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days ago.
Squad11 Dec 2034
Máximo Munarriz damages knee ligaments — 124 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 124 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.
Transfer targets11 Dec 2034
An offer of $16.1M for Yuto Ozeki
O'Higgins have gone to Gamba Osaka with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Market11 Dec 2034
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. O'Higgins have paid $6.7M for Prince Adu Kwabena, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Market11 Dec 2034
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. O'Higgins have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad11 Dec 2034
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. O'Higgins will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Market11 Dec 2034
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad11 Dec 2034
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Phillipe Gabriel has just signed for O'Higgins, and for once the answer mattered.
Market11 Dec 2034
VfL Wolfsburg did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $900.0K for Phillipe Gabriel, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Dec 2034
Máximo Munarriz damages knee ligaments — 131 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 131 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.
Market4 Dec 2034
O'Higgins come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Audax Italiano did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market4 Dec 2034
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Audax Italiano can pretend not to have heard.
Market4 Dec 2034
Add another name to the list: O'Higgins have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Alan Cisnero. The answer from Audax Italiano has not changed — yet.
Market4 Dec 2034
Only the photograph left for Elías Díaz
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Elías Díaz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Audax Italiano the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad4 Dec 2034
Ángel Martínez 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.
Transfer targets4 Dec 2034
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad4 Dec 2034
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vicente Guzmán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout4 Dec 2034
The manager makes an example of Kevyn
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets4 Dec 2034
$6.7M settles it between the clubs for Prince Adu Kwabena
Colo-Colo have accepted the money. What O'Higgins do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Market4 Dec 2034
O'Higgins say no — this time
The offer from Sporting Cristal for Joaquín Moxica 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.
Market4 Dec 2034
“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.
The dugout4 Dec 2034
Arturo Valdes: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” O'Higgins have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets4 Dec 2034
O'Higgins have gone to VfL Wolfsburg with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets4 Dec 2034
The offer went to Audax Italiano this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad4 Dec 2034
Vicente Poggi 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.
Transfer targets4 Dec 2034
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Audax Italiano have kept their man, and O'Higgins go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Nov 2034
60 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Audax Italiano lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market27 Nov 2034
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Audax Italiano they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad27 Nov 2034
Ángel Martínez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Nov 2034
Words at Audax Italiano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Ángel Méndez 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 dugout27 Nov 2034
Pedro Calcabrini has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Audax Italiano 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 dugout27 Nov 2034
The manager makes an example of Elías Díaz
“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 dugout27 Nov 2034
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.
Market27 Nov 2034
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Audax Italiano, another week without a signature from Clemente González.
The dugout27 Nov 2034
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Nov 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Valentín Larralde
67 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Audax Italiano lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market20 Nov 2034
“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.
Market20 Nov 2034
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Audax Italiano is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad20 Nov 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Audax Italiano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Nov 2034
Words at Audax Italiano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Máximo Munarriz 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 dugout20 Nov 2034
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Santiago Chamorro trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout20 Nov 2034
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 Vicente Guzmán is on it.
Market20 Nov 2034
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Audax Italiano money.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Nov 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Valentín Larralde
76 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Audax Italiano lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market13 Nov 2034
“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 Audax Italiano, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market13 Nov 2034
Only the photograph left for Marcos Arturia
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marcos Arturia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Audax Italiano the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad13 Nov 2034
Ángel Martínez 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.
Squad13 Nov 2034
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Pedro Calcabrini and Audax Italiano agree another 4 years.
Squad13 Nov 2034
Words at Audax Italiano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Máximo Munarriz 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.
Market13 Nov 2034
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout13 Nov 2034
“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 dugout13 Nov 2034
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Nov 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Valentín Larralde
84 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Audax Italiano lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market6 Nov 2034
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Audax Italiano they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad6 Nov 2034
Ángel Martínez 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.
Market6 Nov 2034
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout6 Nov 2034
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 dugout6 Nov 2034
The manager makes an example of Sergio Carrasco
“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.
Squad6 Nov 2034
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miguel Ángel Méndez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout6 Nov 2034
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Cristobal Muñoz trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market6 Nov 2034
The clock does Luciano Arriagada’s negotiating for him
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Audax Italiano could ask drops and the wages Luciano Arriagada can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Oct 2034
91 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Audax Italiano lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market30 Oct 2034
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Audax Italiano can pretend not to have heard.
Market30 Oct 2034
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Audax Italiano they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad30 Oct 2034
Ángel Martínez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Oct 2034
Words at Audax Italiano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Máximo Munarriz 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 dugout30 Oct 2034
“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.
Squad30 Oct 2034
Too much change too quickly at Audax Italiano
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.
The dugout30 Oct 2034
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Audax Italiano, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout30 Oct 2034
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Oct 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Valentín Larralde
98 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Audax Italiano lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market23 Oct 2034
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Audax Italiano can pretend not to have heard.
Market23 Oct 2034
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Brandon Hinestroza will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Audax Italiano the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market23 Oct 2034
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Audax Italiano can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad23 Oct 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Audax Italiano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Oct 2034
Máximo Munarriz 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 dugout23 Oct 2034
“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.
Squad23 Oct 2034
“The easiest signature of my career.” Bastián Arias and Audax Italiano agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout23 Oct 2034
Rodrigo Castillo has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Audax Italiano 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Oct 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Valentín Larralde
105 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Audax Italiano lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market16 Oct 2034
Alan Cisnero hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Audax Italiano can pretend not to have heard.
Market16 Oct 2034
Marcos Arturia has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Audax Italiano they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad16 Oct 2034
Ángel Martínez 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.
Squad16 Oct 2034
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daniel Nunez and Audax Italiano agree another 4 years.
The dugout16 Oct 2034
Máximo Munarriz has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Audax Italiano 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 dugout16 Oct 2034
Máximo Munarriz asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad16 Oct 2034
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miguel Ángel Méndez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market16 Oct 2034
3 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Audax Italiano money.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Oct 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Valentín Larralde
112 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Audax Italiano lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market9 Oct 2034
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Máximo Munarriz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Audax Italiano the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad9 Oct 2034
Ángel Martínez 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.
Squad9 Oct 2034
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Máximo Munarriz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout9 Oct 2034
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 dugout9 Oct 2034
The manager makes an example of Sergio Carrasco
“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.
Market9 Oct 2034
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Audax Italiano, another week without a signature from Kevyn.
Market9 Oct 2034
2 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Audax Italiano could get for him.
Market9 Oct 2034
The name of Alan Cisnero keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Audax Italiano say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Oct 2034
Valentín Larralde damages knee ligaments — 119 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 119 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.
Match27 Sep 2034
Cobreloa are out and Audax Italiano go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Market2 Oct 2034
“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 Audax Italiano, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market2 Oct 2034
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luciano Arriagada will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Audax Italiano the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match27 Sep 2034
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad2 Oct 2034
Ángel Martínez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Oct 2034
Máximo Munarriz 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 ratings2 Oct 2034
A performance of 8.36 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings2 Oct 2034
Ninety minutes of Daniel Bolívar at his very best
Marked 8.13. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Audax Italiano.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market18 Sep 2034
“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.
Match18 Sep 2034
52 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Market18 Sep 2034
Marcos Arturia has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Audax Italiano they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad18 Sep 2034
Ángel Martínez 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.
Squad18 Sep 2034
Máximo Munarriz 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 dugout18 Sep 2034
“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.
Match16 Sep 2034
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings18 Sep 2034
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 dugout18 Sep 2034
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Eduardo Osorio after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Sep 2034
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Máximo Munarriz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Audax Italiano the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom11 Sep 2034
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Máximo Munarriz 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.
Squad11 Sep 2034
Ángel Martínez 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.
Squad11 Sep 2034
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Miguel Ángel Méndez has, at Audax Italiano, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad11 Sep 2034
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Máximo Munarriz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market11 Sep 2034
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Audax Italiano, another week without a signature from Santiago Chamorro.
The dugout11 Sep 2034
“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.
Squad11 Sep 2034
“The easiest signature of my career.” Miguel Ángel Méndez and Audax Italiano agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout11 Sep 2034
Valentín Larralde has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Audax Italiano 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Sep 2034
Gonzalo Pulgar damages knee ligaments — 18 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
Market4 Sep 2034
“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.
Player ratings4 Sep 2034
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.77, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market4 Sep 2034
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Audax Italiano is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match2 Sep 2034
Audax Italiano make home a hard place to visit
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The dugout4 Sep 2034
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Audax Italiano have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad4 Sep 2034
Valentín Larralde and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match2 Sep 2034
A 2‑0 win over Ñublense, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout4 Sep 2034
The manager makes an example of Máximo Munarriz
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Aug 2034
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Audax Italiano lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market28 Aug 2034
“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 Audax Italiano, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market28 Aug 2034
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Brandon Hinestroza will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Audax Italiano the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match26 Aug 2034
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Audax Italiano are no longer polite ones.
Squad28 Aug 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Audax Italiano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Aug 2034
Ezequiel Neira 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 ratings28 Aug 2034
The afternoon belonged to Ángel Díaz
A mark of 7.82, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad28 Aug 2034
Too much change too quickly at Audax Italiano
7 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.
Match26 Aug 2034
A 1‑1 draw with Curicó Unido leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market17 Jul 2034
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Cobresal waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Audax Italiano is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market17 Jul 2034
The offer from Universidad de Chile for Máximo Munarriz 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.
Market17 Jul 2034
“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 Audax Italiano, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad17 Jul 2034
33 days out for Arian Moreno after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Audax Italiano will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout17 Jul 2034
Rodrigo Castillo: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Audax Italiano have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market17 Jul 2034
Only the photograph left for Ángel Díaz
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ángel Díaz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Audax Italiano the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings17 Jul 2034
A defender's goal wins it for Audax Italiano — 7.61
1 for Máximo Munarriz, marked 7.61, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Match15 Jul 2034
Nobody wants to play Audax Italiano right now
3 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.
Squad17 Jul 2034
Valentín Larralde 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Jun 2034
Arian Moreno breaks a bone — 61 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 61 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market19 Jun 2034
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Audax Italiano people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market19 Jun 2034
Iván Díaz hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Audax Italiano can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings19 Jun 2034
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 7.43 for the rest of it.
The dugout19 Jun 2034
Ignacio Vázquez: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Audax Italiano have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market19 Jun 2034
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ángel Martínez wants continental football; whether Audax Italiano can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad19 Jun 2034
Ángel Martínez 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.
Squad19 Jun 2034
A move Daniel Nunez 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. Daniel Nunez is living that version at Audax Italiano, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad19 Jun 2034
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ezequiel Neira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad29 May 2034
Arian Moreno breaks a bone — 84 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 84 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match27 May 2034
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Audax Italiano have 6 straight wins of it.
Market29 May 2034
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Audax Italiano is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market29 May 2034
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Alan Cisnero wants continental football; whether Audax Italiano can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad29 May 2034
Valentín Larralde 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.
Squad29 May 2034
Words at Audax Italiano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ezequiel Neira 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.
Match27 May 2034
A 2‑1 win over Cobresal, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout29 May 2034
“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.
Player ratings29 May 2034
Ninety minutes of Pedro Calcabrini at his very best
Marked 8.30. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Audax Italiano.