Marked for Alejandro Soto
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market7 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Carlos Kiese 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and William Santander was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Carlos Gamarra, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Ivan Pineda named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Ivan Pineda is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The division's best last weekend was a Deportivo Capiata man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Alejandro Soto was the best thing in any of them.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.85, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.80 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match29 Aug 2026
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Deportivo Capiata have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
William Santander and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Axel Suárez has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.34 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad31 Aug 2026
17 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 dugout31 Aug 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 Aug 2026
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
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 7.86 for the rest of it.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Capiata this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match22 Aug 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Deportivo Capiata and 12 de Junio, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 9.58 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luis Araújo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Adrián Cárdenas has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.