Marked for Enrico
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces6 Jul 2037
Anger at San Luis spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match4 Jul 2037
10 matches without a win for San Luis
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around San Luis are no longer polite ones.
Squad6 Jul 2037
A fracture rules Felipe Maripan out for 44 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason San Luis will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market6 Jul 2037
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what San Luis can pretend not to have heard.
Squad6 Jul 2037
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gonzalo Bustos and San Luis agree another 2 years.
Squad6 Jul 2037
Gonzalo Bustos 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.
Match4 Jul 2037
Union Espanola left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The terraces6 Jul 2037
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad6 Jul 2037
The manager makes an example of Enrico
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces13 Apr 2037
Anger at San Luis spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad13 Apr 2037
A fracture rules Diego Fernandez out for 45 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason San Luis will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match11 Apr 2037
7 matches without a win for San Luis
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around San Luis are no longer polite ones.
Squad13 Apr 2037
Gonzalo Bustos 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.
Player ratings13 Apr 2037
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad13 Apr 2037
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sergio Olivera, and the manager let it.
Squad13 Apr 2037
“The easiest signature of my career.” Gabriel Rocha and San Luis agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings13 Apr 2037
Nothing got past Enrico
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings13 Apr 2037
14 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Mar 2037
Nicolás Aedo breaks a bone — 25 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings30 Mar 2037
Enrico was immovable
30 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.
Squad30 Mar 2037
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad30 Mar 2037
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” San Luis may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match28 Mar 2037
No end in sight to San Luis's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at San Luis has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad30 Mar 2037
Gonzalo Bustos 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.
Player ratings30 Mar 2037
16 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.
Player ratings30 Mar 2037
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match28 Mar 2037
Point won or two lost for San Luis?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Universidad de Chile? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces16 Mar 2037
Anger at San Luis spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad16 Mar 2037
Nicolás Aedo breaks a bone — 41 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad16 Mar 2037
“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.
Squad16 Mar 2037
Gonzalo Bustos 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 Mar 2037
Enrico 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
Crisis
Match6 Sep 2036
Nowhere to hide for San Luis
1‑5 against Universidad Catolica, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Boardroom8 Sep 2036
Daniel Sierralta has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at San Luis can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Squad8 Sep 2036
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad8 Sep 2036
Ignacio Ponce 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.
Match6 Sep 2036
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about San Luis and Universidad Catolica in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad8 Sep 2036
The manager makes an example of Enrico
“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.
Boardroom8 Sep 2036
Nobody left the San Luis dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad8 Sep 2036
Sebastian Suazo named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Sebastian Suazo is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Player ratings8 Sep 2036
7 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Jul 2036
A fracture rules Vicente Durán out for 38 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason San Luis will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match12 Jul 2036
Beaten 0‑5 by Universidad de Chile, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match12 Jul 2036
No end in sight to San Luis's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at San Luis has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad14 Jul 2036
Gonzalo Bustos 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.
Squad14 Jul 2036
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Martín Castro, and the manager let it.
Boardroom14 Jul 2036
Nobody left the San Luis dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad14 Jul 2036
Whether it was the goalkeeper or the ten in front of him is the argument that will fill every conversation in town this week. 4 saves does not settle it either way.
Market14 Jul 2036
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. San Luis will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
The terraces14 Jul 2036
The spotlight tightens on Enrico
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces7 Jul 2036
The mood at San Luis has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad7 Jul 2036
A fracture rules Vicente Durán out for 45 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason San Luis will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match7 Jul 2036
San Luis sink to position 16
10 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match5 Jul 2036
2‑5 to Union Espanola, 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.
Match5 Jul 2036
The wait goes on for San Luis
8 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.
Player ratings7 Jul 2036
No sign of nerves from Sebastian Suazo at 21 — 8.30
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Sebastian Suazo did not need any: 8.30, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad7 Jul 2036
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nicolás Aedo and San Luis agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Jul 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 San Luis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match5 Jul 2036
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about San Luis and Union Espanola in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Mar 2036
The wait goes on for San Luis
23 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.
Squad3 Mar 2036
Marcelo Riquelme damages knee ligaments — 39 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
Squad3 Mar 2036
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad3 Mar 2036
Gonzalo Bustos 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.
Player ratings3 Mar 2036
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad3 Mar 2036
Enrico 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 ratings3 Mar 2036
Shots: 8. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Player ratings3 Mar 2036
A mark of 5.73 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
In brief
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Boardroom
The San Luis production line keeps running
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The terraces
The press cannot get enough of Ignacio Ponce