The Arouca Chronicle
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Nobody could get near Lee Hyun-Ju
Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Nothing got past Taichi Fukui
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 33 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Ignacio de Arruabarrena in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Arouca this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market14 Feb 2028
Kézian Mougammadou is a Arouca player again
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Market14 Feb 2028
Buddy Vogelzang comes home
The shirt still fits. Buddy Vogelzang is back at Arouca, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Pablo Gozálbez stays put
“The easiest signature of my career.” Pablo Gozálbez and Arouca agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Javi Sánchez shuts the door
Defensive actions: 21, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad14 Feb 2028
No hiding place for Dylan Nandín
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dylan Nandín, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Defences have started doubling up on Alfonso Trezza
5 goals and a season average of 7.28 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
In brief
- Player ratings Mateo Flores shuts the door
- Market Arouca sign João Pinto, one for the future
- Match Arouca and Santa Clara cancel each other out