Marked for Joaquín González
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces1 Nov 2032
Anger at VVV-Venlo spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match27 Oct 2032
VVV-Venlo bow out of the cup
AZ go through and VVV-Venlo go home, 0‑4 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The terraces1 Nov 2032
A cup hiding at AZ leaves VVV-Venlo explaining themselves
0-4, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Match30 Oct 2032
The wait goes on for VVV-Venlo
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market1 Nov 2032
“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 The request is on a desk at VVV-Venlo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad1 Nov 2032
Tobías Bovone 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.
Boardroom1 Nov 2032
Fortuna Sittard will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Xavi Dors has pre-agreed a move to VVV-Venlo, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Match30 Oct 2032
3 matches without a goal for VVV-Venlo
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad1 Nov 2032
Franco Lombardo 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets26 Jul 2032
The deal with AZ is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2032
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Feyenoord is saying, and nobody at VVV-Venlo is enjoying the guessing.
Squad26 Jul 2032
Words at VVV-Venlo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobías Bovone 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.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2032
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Feyenoord have kept their man, and VVV-Venlo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad26 Jul 2032
Franco Lombardo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Jul 2032
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at VVV-Venlo can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout26 Jul 2032
The manager makes an example of Mendel Quansah
“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.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2032
A loan move for Igo Gabriel is in the works
VVV-Venlo have made the call to Heerenveen. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout26 Jul 2032
King Duah 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 King Duah trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Jul 2032
VVV-Venlo sink to position 19
28 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market19 Jul 2032
“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 VVV-Venlo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad19 Jul 2032
Hobie Verhulst 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.
Squad19 Jul 2032
Tobías Bovone 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 targets19 Jul 2032
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Twente have kept their man, and VVV-Venlo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad19 Jul 2032
“The easiest signature of my career.” Andrew Dallas and VVV-Venlo agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad19 Jul 2032
At 34, 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 targets19 Jul 2032
VVV-Venlo have made the call to Feyenoord. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market19 Jul 2032
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Joel van den Berg signs something — a contract at VVV-Venlo or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom4 Aug 2031
The scrutiny sharpens at Rubio Nu
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Rubio Nu is running low.
Market4 Aug 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rubio Nu is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom4 Aug 2031
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad4 Aug 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Luis Franco and Rubio Nu agree another 2 years.
Squad4 Aug 2031
Pablo Valdez gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Pablo Valdez has just signed for Rubio Nu, and for once the answer mattered.
Match2 Aug 2031
1‑3 to Deportivo Capiata, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom4 Aug 2031
$440.3K from the owner keeps Rubio Nu afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
The dugout4 Aug 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Agustín Dameno, and the manager let it.
Player ratings4 Aug 2031
José Zuloaga beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Jul 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rubio Nu can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout28 Jul 2031
“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 Jul 2031
Words exchanged at Rubio Nu
Leonardo Rolón 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 Jul 2031
Words at Rubio Nu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brian Blasi 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.
Transfer targets28 Jul 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cerro Porteno have kept their man, and Rubio Nu go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Brian Blasi reaches 200 appearances
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The dugout28 Jul 2031
“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.
Market28 Jul 2031
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Bryan Bentaberry has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Rubio Nu.
Match26 Jul 2031
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market23 Jun 2031
Fabio Ávalos 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 Rubio Nu can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets23 Jun 2031
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Rubio Nu have done the hard part with Cerro Porteno, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets23 Jun 2031
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Olimpia is saying, and nobody at Rubio Nu is enjoying the guessing.
Squad23 Jun 2031
Words exchanged at Rubio Nu
Leonardo Rolón 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.
Squad23 Jun 2031
Brian Blasi 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 targets23 Jun 2031
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.
Match21 Jun 2031
Ezequiel Quiroga scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Tacuary, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Market23 Jun 2031
Brian Blasi told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Brian Blasi has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Rubio Nu.
The dugout23 Jun 2031
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The terraces16 Jun 2031
Rubio Nu sell a favourite for $190.0K
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Matías Vilalta was one of the reasons people came, and $190.0K does not replace that by itself.
Market16 Jun 2031
Matías Vilalta has left for Guarani in a $190.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad16 Jun 2031
Brian Blasi 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.
Boardroom16 Jun 2031
Rubio Nu cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Squad16 Jun 2031
A goalkeeper's career is counted in the games nobody scored in, and Luis Franco now has 25 of them across 121 appearances. Nothing about that number was luck.
Squad16 Jun 2031
A falling-out at Rubio Nu
Ángel Cristaldo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout16 Jun 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marcelo Jiménez, and the manager let it.
Player ratings16 Jun 2031
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.91 on the card, and the Rubio Nu support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Apr 2031
Brian Blasi breaks a bone — 20 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout21 Apr 2031
“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.
Squad21 Apr 2031
A falling-out at Rubio Nu
Leonardo Rolón and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings21 Apr 2031
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 12 actions, 7.28, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Boardroom21 Apr 2031
No signings allowed at Rubio Nu
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.
Squad21 Apr 2031
Words at Rubio Nu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Morel 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.
Match19 Apr 2031
Rubio Nu hit back inside 1 minutes
Deportivo Capiata held the lead for 1 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Rubio Nu answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Player ratings21 Apr 2031
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings21 Apr 2031
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.69 on the card, and the Rubio Nu support went home talking about one name.