“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Mineros de Guayana, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mineros de Guayana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Lautaro Godoy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Oct 2027
José Navarro 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.
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 Maiker Rivas is on it.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Martín Coria 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.
In brief
The dugoutMateo Tejada asks for a word with the manager
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mineros de Guayana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Juan Méndez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mineros de Guayana the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Yonathan del Valle and Mineros de Guayana agree another 2 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 Mineros de Guayana 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 Manuel Granados was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mineros de Guayana is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mineros de Guayana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Manuel Granados was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Lautaro Godoy 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lautaro Godoy. 1‑0 against Trujillanos, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
7.98, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Mineros de Guayana had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout31 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Miguel Osorio kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
In brief
The dugoutElijah Pacheco has become a man the manager trusts
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mineros de Guayana will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Manuel Granados was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Carabobo left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
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 Miguel Osorio to a room that had heard them before.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mineros de Guayana will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Mineros de Guayana, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mineros de Guayana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Lautaro Godoy and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Manuel Granados was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Mineros de Guayana has been clear about where Elijah Pacheco stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Mineros de Guayana has to find a result from somewhere.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Manuel Granados 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 is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Martín Coria'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 dugoutThe manager makes an example of Carlos Barreto
0‑4 to Deportivo La Guaira, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
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.
Lautaro Godoy and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francisco Uviedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Miguel Osorio after 0‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jenluis Pérez did not need any: 7.85, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mineros de Guayana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Miguel Osorio on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Mineros de Guayana will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Lautaro Godoy 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.
Mineros de Guayana had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Estudiantes, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Navarro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Mineros de Guayana 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mineros de Guayana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Mineros de Guayana have made the call to Nueva Chicago. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mineros de Guayana will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mineros de Guayana will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Manuel Granados 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.
19 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.
Nobody at Mineros de Guayana 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 97 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mineros de Guayana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ángel Peñaranda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
19 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.
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 Elijah Pacheco is on it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Manuel Granados 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Miguel Osorio after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
Nobody at Mineros de Guayana 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.
13 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
In brief
Player ratingsA defender's afternoon for Maiker Rivas