Marked for Joaquín Rodríguez
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Sep 2029
Juan Sebastián Herrera 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 Sep 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nelson Hernández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
Carlos Rivero 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 Carlos Rivero is on it.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
“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.
Market17 Sep 2029
The clock does Ayrton Páez’s negotiating for him
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Deportivo La Guaira could ask drops and the wages Ayrton Páez can ask rise.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
Anthwan Díaz 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 Anthwan Díaz trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Boardroom17 Sep 2029
36 graduates from an academy now rated 9 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
Carlos Faya keeps his manager's vote
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Carlos Faya plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout10 Sep 2029
Blas Samudio: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Deportivo La Guaira have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market10 Sep 2029
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Deportivo La Guaira can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Carlos Rivero 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 Sep 2029
Words at Deportivo La Guaira training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Sebastián Herrera 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 dugout10 Sep 2029
“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 dugout10 Sep 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match18 Jun 2029
49 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Defences have started doubling up on Sebastián Castillo
16 goals and a season average of 7.60 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Martín Gianoli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings18 Jun 2029
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mineros de Guayana have kept their man, and Deportivo La Guaira go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Words at Deportivo La Guaira training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Sebastián Herrera 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.
Match16 Jun 2029
0‑2 to Carabobo, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
Lanús 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
Upbeat
Squad21 May 2029
A season average of 7.51 with 13 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Market21 May 2029
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Deportivo La Guaira can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Player ratings21 May 2029
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 May 2029
Martín Gianoli 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.
Squad21 May 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Sebastián Herrera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings21 May 2029
Sebastián Castillo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.22. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout21 May 2029
“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.
The dugout21 May 2029
Carlos Rivero has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Deportivo La Guaira will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Jan 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 150 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad1 Jan 2029
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Deportivo La Guaira had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Market1 Jan 2029
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Carlos Faya wants continental football; whether Deportivo La Guaira can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Carlos Rivero and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets1 Jan 2029
Deportivo La Guaira asked and Libertad said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets1 Jan 2029
A loan enquiry to Lanús: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
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.
Squad1 Jan 2029
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Deportivo La Guaira are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.