Marked for Junior Martinez
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces26 Jul 2027
The mood at Atletico Venezuela has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market26 Jul 2027
“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.
Market26 Jul 2027
So close: Darwin Machis’s move dies late
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Aragua moved on, Darwin Machis reports back to Atletico Venezuela, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Roberto Soteldo 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.
Match24 Jul 2027
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Atletico Venezuela can tell you which week it ends in.
Match24 Jul 2027
0‑2 to Deportivo Lara, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Atletico Venezuela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francisco Machis 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Atletico Venezuela told Juan Ramírez something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad26 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dylan Sandoval, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Jul 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 The request is on a desk at Atletico Venezuela, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Daniel Savarino: 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.” Atletico Venezuela have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market19 Jul 2027
The offer from Aragua for Darwin Machis was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad19 Jul 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 Atletico Venezuela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market19 Jul 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Atletico Venezuela have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Juan Ferraresi 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.
Match17 Jul 2027
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Zulia came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Squad19 Jul 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Atletico Venezuela, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces31 May 2027
The mood at Atletico Venezuela has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom31 May 2027
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Atletico Venezuela is running low.
Squad31 May 2027
Roberto Soteldo 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Atletico Venezuela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Ferraresi 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.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Juan Ferraresi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. 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.
Squad31 May 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Atletico Venezuela told Juan Ramírez something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad31 May 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Atletico Venezuela, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 8. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 May 2027
Position 15, 8 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market17 May 2027
“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.
Squad17 May 2027
Roberto Soteldo 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 May 2027
Words at Atletico Venezuela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Ferraresi 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.
Match15 May 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.
Squad17 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Edwin Dugarte
“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
Match6 Mar 2027
10 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market8 Mar 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 Atletico Venezuela, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Darwin Murillo and Atletico Venezuela agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Mar 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 Atletico Venezuela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Juan Ferraresi 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.56 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match13 Feb 2027
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Atletico Venezuela are no longer polite ones.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Roberto Soteldo 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.
Match13 Feb 2027
Beaten 2‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Feb 2027
“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.
Match30 Jan 2027
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Atletico Venezuela has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Roberto Soteldo 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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Atletico Venezuela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Ferraresi 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
Roberto Soteldo is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Atletico Venezuela has been clear about where Roberto Soteldo stands, which is more than many ever get.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
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 ratings1 Feb 2027
Marked 7.86. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Dec 2026
Daniel Rincon damages knee ligaments — 45 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 45 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.
Squad14 Dec 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.
Market14 Dec 2026
The fee is $73.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Deportivo Lara drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The terraces14 Dec 2026
Atletico Venezuela spend $73.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $73.0K for José Ardila, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Junior Martinez 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.
Market14 Dec 2026
He is 19, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
Guillermo Guzmán 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Atletico Venezuela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junior Martinez 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Sergio Rincon 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
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
Junior Martinez 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Juan Casseres is not doing himself any favours
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The coaching staff have set David Rondon something separate to do. Whether it is a weakness being addressed or a strength being sharpened, nobody outside the building will know until it shows up on a Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Rafael Herrera 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Atletico Venezuela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junior Martinez 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Guillermo Guzmán is not doing himself any favours
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Junior Martinez 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Daniel Savarino trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Aug 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Atletico Venezuela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junior Martinez 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.