Marked for Daniel Casseres
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad25 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Salomon Moreno
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Atletico Venezuela lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match23 Jan 2027
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 93th minute. Mineros de Guayana will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
A brace, and Daniel Casseres takes the afternoon — 8.76
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Daniel Casseres provided it, and the 8.76 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Dimas Meza gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Dimas Meza has just signed for Atletico Venezuela, and for once the answer mattered.
Market25 Jan 2027
The offer from Dalian Yingbo for Junior Soteldo 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.
Squad25 Jan 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.
Market25 Jan 2027
As if he never left: Dimas Meza returns
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Dimas Meza is a Atletico Venezuela player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
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.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Both jobs done by Luis Maestre — 7.23
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 13 actions, 7.23, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jan 2027
38 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Atletico Venezuela lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad18 Jan 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.
Market18 Jan 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Atletico Venezuela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Cantillana 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.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Gabriel Castillo is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom21 Dec 2026
This is the season the town will measure the next twenty against. The trophy travels home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days ago.
Transfer targets21 Dec 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Atletico Venezuela have done the hard part with Caracas, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets21 Dec 2026
Atletico Venezuela offered $260.0K; Caracas said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Transfer targets21 Dec 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Rodrigo Pereira 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 targets21 Dec 2026
A loan enquiry to Portuguesa: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Gabriel Castillo is on it.
Market21 Dec 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Atletico Venezuela know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match10 Dec 2026
1‑1 against Penarol, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Transfer targets14 Dec 2026
$260.0K on the table at Caracas. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Damián Bogado 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Jonathan Hereñú 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” José Cantillana and Atletico Venezuela agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
No place for Matías Parris on the big day
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Atletico Venezuela pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Market14 Dec 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Andres Ferraresi has his answer from Atletico Venezuela; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match26 Nov 2026
0‑2 away to the standard of La Equidad. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Atletico Venezuela may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad30 Nov 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.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Sebastián Aguirre is on it.
Market30 Nov 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Atletico Venezuela, another week without a signature from Rodrigo Pereira.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Ban served, and Daniel Martinez returns to the reckoning
Missing football is its own punishment and it has now been paid in full. Atletico Venezuela get a player back, and whoever has been deputising gets the conversation nobody enjoys.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
Juan Carlos Azócar 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
Rodrigo Pereira gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Rodrigo Pereira has just signed for Atletico Venezuela, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jonathan Hereñú was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad23 Nov 2026
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Atletico Venezuela are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Sergio Savarino
“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.
The dugout23 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match5 Nov 2026
2‑0 against Boca Juniors, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Gabriel Castillo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Marked 7.75. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad9 Nov 2026
6 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Sergio Machis, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Damián Bogado
“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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Juan Carlos Azócar is on it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Squad9 Nov 2026
One booking too many, and a game watched from the stand. Atletico Venezuela lose him for the most avoidable reason in the sport.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Oct 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Everybody at Atletico Venezuela saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Squad12 Oct 2026
7 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Andres 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“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.
Market12 Oct 2026
Damián Bogado is 39 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Market12 Oct 2026
At 36, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
The dugout12 Oct 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Sergio Herrera has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Atletico Venezuela 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Daniel Casseres signs something — a contract at Atletico Venezuela or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Full training, no reaction, and a player who wants to be picked immediately. Atletico Venezuela will hold him back a week and he will spend it arguing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Aug 2026
Metropolitanos go through and Atletico Venezuela go home, 2‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Richard Herrera at 19 — 7.77
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Richard Herrera did not need any: 7.77, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Gabriel Castillo 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 dugout24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Daniel Casseres
“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 ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
7.72, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Atletico Venezuela had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Yeferson Murillo dropped after a run of poor form
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.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Sergio Machis could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match12 Aug 2026
A 2‑0 win over Deportivo Lara, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Edwin Uribe could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 8.00
Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 8.00, 1 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.
Market17 Aug 2026
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Match15 Aug 2026
3 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.
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.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gabriel Castillo, and the manager let it.
Match15 Aug 2026
A 1‑0 win over Portuguesa, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.