Marked for Christofer Ramírez
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match22 May 2038
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Juan Aurich scored in the 95th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Match22 May 2038
Nobody wants to play Juan Aurich 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.
Squad24 May 2038
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juan Aurich this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2038
Words at Juan Aurich training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bryan Rivas 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.
Match22 May 2038
A 2‑1 win over Deportivo Municipal, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad24 May 2038
Víctor Cumpa 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.
Player ratings24 May 2038
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.47, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad24 May 2038
22 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Player ratings24 May 2038
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Mar 2038
4 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match20 Mar 2038
0‑3 against Alianza Lima, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad22 Mar 2038
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Juan Aurich may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad22 Mar 2038
Ricardo Bettocchi 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.
Market22 Mar 2038
Only the photograph left for Nelson Pena
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nelson Pena will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Juan Aurich the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad22 Mar 2038
Bryan Rivas 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.
Squad22 Mar 2038
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ludwig Guidetti, and the manager let it.
Boardroom22 Mar 2038
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Player ratings22 Mar 2038
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Jan 2038
Facundo Pérez breaks a bone — 21 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market18 Jan 2038
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Juan Aurich can pretend not to have heard.
Squad18 Jan 2038
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juan Aurich this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Jun 2037
13 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.
Squad15 Jun 2037
A one-man rearguard from Juan Ibáñez
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market15 Jun 2037
“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 Juan Aurich, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings15 Jun 2037
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad15 Jun 2037
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juan Aurich this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Jun 2037
Words at Juan Aurich training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Víctor Cumpa 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.
Match13 Jun 2037
Sporting Cristal left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad15 Jun 2037
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Facundo Pérez, and the manager let it.
Boardroom15 Jun 2037
Wages eat 89% of everything Juan Aurich earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.