Marked for Joaquín Paredes
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Apr 2036
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 119 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom7 Apr 2036
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Deportivo Miranda is running low.
Squad7 Apr 2036
Joaquín Paredes 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.
Boardroom7 Apr 2036
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad7 Apr 2036
Words at Deportivo Miranda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luisbert Salazar 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.
Boardroom7 Apr 2036
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Match5 Apr 2036
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Richard Herrera. 1‑0 against Héroes de Falcón, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Boardroom7 Apr 2036
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Player ratings7 Apr 2036
A performance of 8.16 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Mar 2036
A fracture rules Carlos Espinoza out for 126 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Deportivo Miranda will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad31 Mar 2036
Joaquín Paredes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Mar 2036
Luisbert Salazar 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 dugout31 Mar 2036
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Karl Ntcham, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead31 Mar 2036
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Héroes de Falcón in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout31 Mar 2036
Joaquín Núñez knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Joaquín Núñez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout31 Mar 2036
When it matters, Joel Hakola plays
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.
Market31 Mar 2036
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Deportivo Miranda know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market31 Mar 2036
The clock does Gonzalo Peruzzi’s negotiating for him
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Deportivo Miranda could ask drops and the wages Gonzalo Peruzzi can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Mar 2036
Carlos Espinoza 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.
Squad17 Mar 2036
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luisbert Salazar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 Mar 2036
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout17 Mar 2036
Joaquín Núñez dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Squad17 Mar 2036
One booking too many, and Joaquín Paredes sits out. Deportivo Miranda lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
Market17 Mar 2036
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Manuel Prieto has his answer from Deportivo Miranda; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout17 Mar 2036
Raul Castillo 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 Raul Castillo is on it.
Looking ahead17 Mar 2036
Barquisimeto next, and one man in the Deportivo Miranda dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Mar 2036
Joaquín Paredes 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.
Squad10 Mar 2036
Luisbert Salazar 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.
Match8 Mar 2036
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom10 Mar 2036
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout10 Mar 2036
The manager makes an example of Joaquín Paredes
“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.
Boardroom10 Mar 2036
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
Boardroom10 Mar 2036
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $17.2M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Squad10 Mar 2036
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
The dugout10 Mar 2036
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings3 Mar 2036
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.52, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad3 Mar 2036
“The easiest signature of my career.” Óscar Linares and Deportivo Miranda agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Boardroom3 Mar 2036
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
The dugout3 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.
Player ratings3 Mar 2036
Ninety minutes of Jaiser Altamar at his very best
Marked 8.44. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Deportivo Miranda.
Match1 Mar 2036
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Carlos Espinoza had Deportivo Miranda level again within 1 minutes, and Angostura never got to play with a lead at all.
Market3 Mar 2036
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Deportivo Miranda, another week without a signature from Joaquín Paredes.
The dugout3 Mar 2036
The manager has not finished forgetting Luisbert Salazar'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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match16 Feb 2036
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 88th, and Titanes Guanare spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Squad18 Feb 2036
Joaquín Paredes 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 Feb 2036
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luisbert Salazar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings18 Feb 2036
Marked 7.36 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Deportivo Miranda had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout18 Feb 2036
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Interim Coach, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Squad18 Feb 2036
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Deportivo Miranda have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
The dugout18 Feb 2036
The manager makes an example of Antonio Diez
“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 dugout18 Feb 2036
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Feb 2036
Carlos Gutiérrez damages knee ligaments — 14 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.
Squad4 Feb 2036
Carlos Espinoza and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom4 Feb 2036
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad4 Feb 2036
Luisbert Salazar 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.
Match2 Feb 2036
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout4 Feb 2036
The manager makes an example of José Flores
“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.
Squad4 Feb 2036
100 appearances for Luis Vera
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Boardroom4 Feb 2036
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Market4 Feb 2036
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Deportivo Miranda, another week without a signature from Joaquín Paredes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Dec 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Sleyder Flores
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Deportivo Miranda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad24 Dec 2035
Victor Osorio breaks a bone — 30 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad24 Dec 2035
Josué Mata gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Josué Mata has just signed for Deportivo Miranda, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad24 Dec 2035
Joaquín Paredes 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.
Boardroom24 Dec 2035
Zamora will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Jhon Flor has pre-agreed a move to Deportivo Miranda, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Transfer targets24 Dec 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.
Transfer targets24 Dec 2035
A loan move for Ignacio Milans is in the works
Deportivo Miranda have made the call to Caracas. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout24 Dec 2035
A promise honoured for Karl Ntcham
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Deportivo Miranda told Karl Ntcham something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout24 Dec 2035
Joaquín Núñez knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Joaquín Núñez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Dec 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Carlos Gutiérrez
77 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Deportivo Miranda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom3 Dec 2035
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Squad3 Dec 2035
51 days out for Victor Osorio after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Deportivo Miranda will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom3 Dec 2035
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Market3 Dec 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.
Squad3 Dec 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jesús Vega and Deportivo Miranda agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Dec 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 Deportivo Miranda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom3 Dec 2035
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Transfer targets3 Dec 2035
Marítimo de La Guaira have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Oct 2035
Carlos Gutiérrez damages knee ligaments — 126 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 126 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.
Market15 Oct 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 Deportivo Miranda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 Oct 2035
Joaquín Paredes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Oct 2035
Words at Deportivo Miranda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luisbert Salazar 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.
Boardroom15 Oct 2035
135% of the income goes out in wages at Deportivo Miranda
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad15 Oct 2035
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Deportivo Miranda is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match7 Jul 2035
Carlos Espinoza had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Barquisimeto were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Player ratings9 Jul 2035
A brace, and Carlos Espinoza takes the afternoon — 8.52
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Carlos Espinoza provided it, and the 8.52 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market9 Jul 2035
Joel Hakola 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 Deportivo Miranda can pretend not to have heard.
Squad9 Jul 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Joaquín Paredes and Deportivo Miranda agree another 2 years.
Squad9 Jul 2035
Joaquín Paredes 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 Jul 2035
Luisbert Salazar 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.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2035
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Caracas have kept their man, and Deportivo Miranda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout9 Jul 2035
Jesús Vega 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.
Market9 Jul 2035
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Deportivo Miranda, another week without a signature from Jaiser Altamar.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market2 Jul 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 Deportivo Miranda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom2 Jul 2035
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad2 Jul 2035
284 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and Deportivo Miranda know exactly what they have.
Transfer targets2 Jul 2035
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Academia Puerto Cabello keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad2 Jul 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Joaquín Paredes and Deportivo Miranda agree another 2 years.
Boardroom2 Jul 2035
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad2 Jul 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luisbert Salazar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets2 Jul 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.
Match30 Jun 2035
A 1‑0 win over Atlético El Vigía, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings21 May 2035
Two goals and a mark of 8.33 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market21 May 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 Deportivo Miranda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad21 May 2035
Joaquín Paredes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 May 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luisbert Salazar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings21 May 2035
Marked 8.42 — 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.
Player ratings21 May 2035
The chances came and went for Daniel Franco
8 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Player ratings21 May 2035
Shots: 19, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
The dugout21 May 2035
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Interim Coach on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Apr 2035
Carlos Espinoza and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Apr 2035
Words at Deportivo Miranda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Franco 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 ratings23 Apr 2035
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad23 Apr 2035
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Deportivo Miranda is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Match21 Apr 2035
0‑1 to Deportivo La Guaira, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout23 Apr 2035
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad23 Apr 2035
One booking too many, and a game watched from the stand. Deportivo Miranda lose him for the most avoidable reason in the sport.
The dugout23 Apr 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ramiro Reynoso, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead23 Apr 2035
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Angostura in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 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 Deportivo Miranda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom5 Mar 2035
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad5 Mar 2035
Words at Deportivo Miranda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luisbert Salazar 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.
Boardroom5 Mar 2035
121% of the income goes out in wages at Deportivo Miranda
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Boardroom5 Mar 2035
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
The dugout5 Mar 2035
The manager makes an example of Facundo Mera
“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.
Market5 Mar 2035
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Deportivo Miranda, another week without a signature from Joaquín Paredes.
Squad5 Mar 2035
9 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.
Squad5 Mar 2035
Kevin Salazar slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Kevin Salazar is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Player ratings
José Flores beats them one at a time
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Player ratings
Carlos Espinoza could have had three
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Feb 2035
Joaquín Paredes 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.
Squad12 Feb 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luisbert Salazar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom12 Feb 2035
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Player ratings12 Feb 2035
Marked 8.07 — 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.
Player ratings12 Feb 2035
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad12 Feb 2035
Appearance number 100 for José Flores
100 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 dugout12 Feb 2035
Jesús Rengel 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.
The dugout12 Feb 2035
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Aug 2034
Carlos Espinoza 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.
Match12 Aug 2034
1‑3 to Aragua, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Aug 2034
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jesús Rengel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom14 Aug 2034
176% of the income goes out in wages at Deportivo Miranda
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The dugout14 Aug 2034
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Joaquín Paredes, and the manager let it.
Player ratings14 Aug 2034
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.32, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Market14 Aug 2034
“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.
The dugout14 Aug 2034
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings14 Aug 2034
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Jun 2034
47 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Deportivo Miranda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market12 Jun 2034
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Deportivo Miranda have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market12 Jun 2034
Jesús Rengel 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 Deportivo Miranda can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout12 Jun 2034
“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.
Squad12 Jun 2034
Luisbert Salazar 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.
Squad12 Jun 2034
At 36, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2034
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Anzoátegui have kept their man, and Deportivo Miranda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad12 Jun 2034
Words at Deportivo Miranda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Franco 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 dugout12 Jun 2034
The manager makes an example of Jesús Rengel
“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.