Marked for Adrián Gamboa
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom8 Nov 2027
Juan Arango has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Angostura can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Andrés Farreras 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.
Boardroom8 Nov 2027
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Angostura now.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Angostura training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rojas 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Adrián Gamboa in trouble away from the ground
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
Boardroom8 Nov 2027
Wages swallow 98% of the Angostura income
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 dugout8 Nov 2027
Edgar Silva 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 Edgar Silva is on it.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
Jorge Páez loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Jorge Páez's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
Jorge Páez knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Angostura, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Nov 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Angostura is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
This is not rotation. Aldry Contreras has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Angostura is pretending otherwise.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Jorge Páez 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 Angostura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luis Álvarez, and the manager let it.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Adrián Gamboa makes the wrong kind of headline
Dealt with internally, which is the phrase a club uses when it would rather nobody asked twice. He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday.
Squad1 Nov 2027
José González 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.
Market1 Nov 2027
“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.
Loan watch1 Nov 2027
“I did not go to Titanes Guanare to sit and watch. I want to come back to Angostura and fight for my place.” 10 appearances in 43 matches say the rest.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
Jorge Páez loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Jorge Páez's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at Angostura
Jorge Páez 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Angostura
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José González was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
Carlos Barrios knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Angostura, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
Juan Arango has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Angostura can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market4 Oct 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Angostura is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market4 Oct 2027
“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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Rojas 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Angostura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexis Torrez, and the manager let it.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Adrián Gamboa makes the wrong kind of headline
Dealt with internally, which is the phrase a club uses when it would rather nobody asked twice. He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday.
Loan watch4 Oct 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Angostura, and 10 appearances in 39 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Raised voices on the training ground at Angostura
It involved Adrián Gamboa, it was loud enough to reach the car park, and it was over by lunch. Dressing rooms run hot; the ones that should worry you are the silent ones.