Marked for Nicolás Ibarra
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Sep 2028
“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.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Iquique may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Ronnie Fernández 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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Clemente Montes 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.
Market11 Sep 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Iquique, another week without a signature from Nicolás Ibarra.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
Felipe Espinoza asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match4 Sep 2028
Full time on the season at Iquique
Position 10 on 28 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Market4 Sep 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Iquique can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad4 Sep 2028
A falling-out at Iquique
Zacarías López and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Clemente Montes 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 Sep 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Matías Ávila and Iquique agree another 3 years.
Match2 Sep 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout4 Sep 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Cristian Jara left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout4 Sep 2028
Steffan Pino 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Aug 2028
Iquique win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. San Marcos de Arica will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Match26 Aug 2028
It had gone 12 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
“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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words exchanged at Iquique
Zacarías López 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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words at Iquique training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Pereyra 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.
Match26 Aug 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Clemente Montes. 1‑0 against San Marcos de Arica, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
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.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
Somebody else is better right now than Joaquín Pereyra
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.