Marked for
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Sep 2030
Words exchanged at Ayacucho
Jorge Bosmediano and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad30 Sep 2030
A row about effort at Ayacucho
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Álex Osorio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout30 Sep 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Álex Osorio, and the manager let it.
The dugout30 Sep 2030
news_b_old_wounds_reopened
The dugout30 Sep 2030
Carlos Fernández 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.
The dugout30 Sep 2030
The manager plants his flag on Stefano Olaya
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Stefano Olaya’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces22 Jul 2030
Anger at Ayacucho 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.
Squad22 Jul 2030
16 days out for Abraham Aguinaga after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ayacucho will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad22 Jul 2030
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ayacucho lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match22 Jul 2030
Ayacucho sink to position 10
14 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Boardroom22 Jul 2030
Ayacucho close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets22 Jul 2030
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Cienciano keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad22 Jul 2030
65 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Transfer targets22 Jul 2030
A loan move for Nelson Trauco is in the works
Ayacucho have made the call to Alianza Lima. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout22 Jul 2030
Jime Tuesta 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 Ayacucho, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Jun 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match15 Jun 2030
No end in sight to Ayacucho's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ayacucho has to find a result from somewhere.
Market17 Jun 2030
“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 Ayacucho, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets17 Jun 2030
The deal with Juan Aurich is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets17 Jun 2030
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Melgar is saying, and nobody at Ayacucho is enjoying the guessing.
Squad17 Jun 2030
Kevin Ferreyra 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.
Transfer targets17 Jun 2030
Ayacucho asked and Sporting Cristal said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match15 Jun 2030
The goals have deserted Ayacucho
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Ayacucho can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad17 Jun 2030
Álex Osorio 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
Squad28 Jan 2030
Words exchanged at Ayacucho
Jorge Bosmediano and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout28 Jan 2030
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Jorge Bosmediano plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
Squad28 Jan 2030
A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom14 Jan 2030
Pressure builds in the Ayacucho boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad14 Jan 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ayacucho this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets14 Jan 2030
Ayacucho ran out of time with Universitario. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad14 Jan 2030
A row about effort at Ayacucho
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Álex Osorio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad14 Jan 2030
Ayacucho are still strangers to each other
9 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout14 Jan 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fabrizzio Franco, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Dec 2029
Ayacucho are in real trouble now
Position 12, 6 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.
Transfer targets24 Dec 2029
The deal with Universitario is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Words exchanged at Ayacucho
Carlos Fernández and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets24 Dec 2029
Ayacucho asked and Melgar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad24 Dec 2029
A row about effort at Ayacucho
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Velásquez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad24 Dec 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Lautaro Porres and Ayacucho agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom17 Dec 2029
The scrutiny sharpens at Ayacucho
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Ayacucho is running low.
Market17 Dec 2029
As if he never left: Rodrigo Dioses returns
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Rodrigo Dioses is a Ayacucho player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad17 Dec 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ayacucho this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. a squad player has, at Ayacucho, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Transfer targets17 Dec 2029
Ayacucho asked and Universitario said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Dec 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Fabrizzio Franco and Ayacucho agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Ayacucho are still strangers to each other
9 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Transfer targets17 Dec 2029
A loan move for Nelson Trauco is in the works
Ayacucho have made the call to Alianza Lima. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets17 Dec 2029
A loan enquiry to Melgar: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.