Marked for Gustavo Larrazabal
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market21 May 2029
“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 dugout21 May 2029
This is not rotation. Brayan Palmezano has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Deportivo Tachira is pretending otherwise.
The dugout21 May 2029
Tobías Gómez: 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 Tachira have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market21 May 2029
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Juan Camilo Pérez wants continental football; whether Deportivo Tachira can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad21 May 2029
Borja Garcés and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match19 May 2029
0‑1 to Metropolitanos, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad21 May 2029
Words at Deportivo Tachira training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustavo Lozano 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.
Squad21 May 2029
Luis Martell is not the player he was
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 34 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad21 May 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gustavo Larrazabal and Deportivo Tachira agree another 4 years.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Mar 2028
Gustavo Larrazabal damages knee ligaments — 16 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 16 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Borja Garcés 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 Deportivo Tachira this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Luis Martell is not the player he was
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 33 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Deportivo Tachira training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustavo Lozano 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 dugout27 Mar 2028
“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 dugout27 Mar 2028
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 Delvin Alfonzo is on it.
Looking ahead27 Mar 2028
Portuguesa next, and one man in the Deportivo Tachira dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
Franco Pinoni 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 Deportivo Tachira, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market27 Mar 2028
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 Mar 2028
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Deportivo Tachira lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Deportivo Tachira may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Borja Garcés and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
This is not rotation. Alejandro Araque has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Deportivo Tachira is pretending otherwise.
Boardroom20 Mar 2028
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Jonathan Farías has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Deportivo Tachira have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Match18 Mar 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
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. 9 actions, 6.81, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
“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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alex Woiski and Deportivo Tachira agree another 4 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Mar 2028
Gustavo Larrazabal damages knee ligaments — 30 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 30 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match13 Mar 2028
Position 2, 13 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Franco Pinoni 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.
The terraces13 Mar 2028
The crowd has taken to Alex Woiski
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Nobody on the pitch touched Alex Woiski
7.79, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Deportivo Tachira had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Match11 Mar 2028
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Óscar Hernández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
Lautaro Lusnig has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Deportivo Tachira 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.