Marked for Gabriel Herrera
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Miguel Herrera
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Llaneros lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Diego Rincon decides it from twelve yards
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Match2 Sep 2026
Llaneros march on in the cup
Mineros de Guayana are out and Llaneros go through, 0‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match2 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Llaneros's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Llaneros has to find a result from somewhere.
Match2 Sep 2026
The goals have deserted Llaneros
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Llaneros can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad7 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 Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Miguel Herrera
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Llaneros lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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 The request is on a desk at Llaneros, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Gabriel 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.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Llaneros training over how hard people work
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Squad
The manager has not finished forgetting Miguel Herrera's mistake
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Aug 2026
Diego Rincon is the hero from the spot
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Diego Rincon: 3 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Miguel Herrera
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Llaneros lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match19 Aug 2026
Llaneros through in the cup
A 0‑0 win over Zamora, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Market24 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Llaneros did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Match19 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Llaneros's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Llaneros has to find a result from somewhere.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Junior Savarino 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Luis Castillo 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.
Match19 Aug 2026
3 matches without a goal for Llaneros
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Miguel Herrera
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Llaneros lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Diego Rincon is the hero from the spot
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Diego Rincon: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match12 Aug 2026
Llaneros through in the cup
A 0‑0 win over Caracas, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A first appearance Andres Osorio will want to forget — 4.97
Everybody's debut is one of two stories and this was the other one. 4.97, and the only consolation available is that nobody's career has ever been decided by ninety minutes in a shirt he had just been given.
Match15 Aug 2026
4 matches without a win for Llaneros
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Llaneros are no longer polite ones.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Gabriel 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.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
At 18 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
0‑2 to Portuguesa, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Darwin Moreno, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces10 Aug 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 30 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Luis Castillo and Llaneros agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Gabriel 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Llaneros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luis Castillo 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.
Match8 Aug 2026
Aragua left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Gabriel Herrera
“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.