Marked for David Arango
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match7 Apr 2027
Llaneros do the business in Europe
1‑0. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and Llaneros came through the finding-out well against Defensor Sporting.
Match10 Apr 2027
Still nobody has beaten Llaneros
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad12 Apr 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 Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 14 combined actions and a mark of 7.34, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Match10 Apr 2027
The run at home goes on for Llaneros
8 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The team sheet said everything about Ismael Páez
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Ismael Páez.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
The afternoon belonged to David Arango
A mark of 7.96, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Marked 7.88. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match3 Apr 2027
6 matches without a win for Llaneros
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Llaneros are no longer polite ones.
Market5 Apr 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Llaneros, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match3 Apr 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Llaneros did not have in the autumn.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Llaneros
Rosmel Villaneuva and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Looking ahead5 Apr 2027
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Llaneros will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Rosmel Villaneuva
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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for David Arango
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. David Arango has come out of that comparison in the side, and Llaneros have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Roberto Martinez after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Match3 Apr 2027
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Estudiantes de Merida came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match13 Feb 2027
Llaneros cannot stop winning
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad15 Feb 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 Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Cristian Ferraresi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.47. 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.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Andres Arango was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.12. 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
César Salinas 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.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Roberto Martinez on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Juan Cordova
“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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Player of the week, judged against every other man in the division. A small award, and one most careers never collect.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Feb 2027
Gabriel Soteldo damages knee ligaments — 21 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Squad1 Feb 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 Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match30 Jan 2027
A 1‑0 win over Mineros de Guayana, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.87 on the card, and the Llaneros support went home talking about one name.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Roberto Martinez kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
When it matters, Ismael Páez plays
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.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
A defender's afternoon for Ismael Páez
Defensive actions: 15. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Alejandro Otero is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“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
Upbeat
Squad25 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Gabriel Soteldo
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Llaneros lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market25 Jan 2027
“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 Llaneros, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Rosmel Villaneuva 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.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
5 academy graduates step up at Llaneros
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“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.
Market25 Jan 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Oscar Casseres has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market25 Jan 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Luis Gonzalez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market25 Jan 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Juan Gonzalez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Match23 Jan 2027
A 1‑0 win over Carabobo, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
Juan Cordova breaks a bone — 67 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 67 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market16 Nov 2026
“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 dugout16 Nov 2026
Cristian Machis: 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.” Llaneros have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Llaneros
Rosmel Villaneuva and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oscar Soteldo, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Sep 2026
Juan Cordova 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 Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Oscar Soteldo for 20 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Llaneros will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Victor Herrera, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Daniel Murillo has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Llaneros 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.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Salomon Murillo, and the manager let it.
Market14 Sep 2026
Two seats in the directors' box were spoken for, and the name in the notebook was Daniel Casseres. Nothing has been offered yet.