Marked for Junior Rincon
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces10 Apr 2028
Anger at Titanes Guanare 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.
Market10 Apr 2028
“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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Roberto Rincon was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Junior Rincon, and the manager let it.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Loan watch10 Apr 2028
11 appearances away from home and 7 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 12. 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.
Match8 Apr 2028
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against UCV? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Looking ahead10 Apr 2028
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Diego Landaeta’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Titanes Guanare needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match24 Feb 2027
Estudiantes de Merida ended it 0‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad1 Mar 2027
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Bautista Fernández, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.72
A mark of 7.72 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Juan Carlos Azócar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Henrique wants to go home
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Titanes Guanare can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Juan Carlos Azócar, and the manager let it.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
130% of the income goes out in wages at Titanes Guanare
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Feb 2027
Lucas Villarruel 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 dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Wilson Quiñónez
“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.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
A performance of 8.01 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match20 Feb 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“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.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The form table has caught Alex Franco
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Luis Murillo is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Squad22 Feb 2027
At 37 he is in the side on merit and somebody else is watching from the bench. Places at Titanes Guanare are won quietly and lost loudly.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
3 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Match12 Aug 2026
A 0‑0 win over Rayo Zuliano, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Juan Carlos Azócar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match15 Aug 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Victor Moreno’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Titanes Guanare.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Junior Rincon
“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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
From twelve yards, and Jose Savarino misses
A penalty is the one moment in football with nowhere to hide, and he did not score it. The walk back was long and the week will be longer.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carlos Gonzalez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.