Marked for Francisco Ramirez
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Atletico Venezuela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francisco Cordova 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atletico Venezuela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Francisco Ramirez has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Aug 2026
Deportivo Lara go through and Atletico Venezuela go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match15 Aug 2026
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Atletico Venezuela are no longer polite ones.
Match15 Aug 2026
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Alejandro Navarro 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 Aug 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Aug 2026
Gael Benítez has left for USM Alger in a $1.5M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Francisco Osorio 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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Atletico Venezuela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alejandro Navarro 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Daniel Gonzalez 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 47. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market3 Aug 2026
The name of Gael Benítez has come up in conversations Atletico Venezuela were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alejandro Navarro and Atletico Venezuela agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Gael Benítez 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
0‑1 to Aragua, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Francisco Cordova 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.