Marked for Daniel Rincon
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Zulia
Darwin Ferraresi 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Jean Frank Gutiérrez 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.
Loan watch13 Sep 2027
“I did not go to Deportivo Lara to sit and watch. I want to come back to Zulia and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 37 matches say the rest.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market23 Aug 2027
The unthinkable, invoiced: Miguel Rosales sold
AZ arrived with $670.0K and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
The terraces23 Aug 2027
Zulia sell a favourite for $670.0K
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Miguel Rosales was one of the reasons people came, and $670.0K does not replace that by itself.
Squad23 Aug 2027
At 21, Alejandro Casseres is already the best thing here
An average of 7.24 in a first team he is several years too young for. Zulia have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad23 Aug 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 Zulia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Zulia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jean Frank Gutiérrez 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 Aug 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 44. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Zulia may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market9 Aug 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zulia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad9 Aug 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 Zulia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Oscar Herrera 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.
Match7 Aug 2027
0‑1 to Trujillanos, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 42. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom19 Jul 2027
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Tempers go at Zulia
Darwin Ferraresi 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Zulia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oscar Herrera 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.
Match17 Jul 2027
0‑1 to Atletico Venezuela, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad19 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Miguel Rosales
“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
Upbeat
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.36, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market12 Jul 2027
Carabobo come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Zulia did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market12 Jul 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zulia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad12 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 Zulia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Zulia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jean Frank Gutiérrez 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 terraces12 Jul 2027
At 22 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.
Match10 Jul 2027
A 2‑0 win over Estudiantes de Caracas, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Market12 Jul 2027
The name of Daniel Rincon has come up in conversations Zulia were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
Ninety minutes of Oscar Herrera at his very best
Marked 8.05. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Zulia.
In brief
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Player ratings
Nobody could get near Roberto Otero
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Squad
Oscar Herrera is in the form of his life
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Squad
5 new faces, and Zulia are still learning each other
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Jun 2027
A fracture rules Victor Martinez out for 41 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zulia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.83 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market14 Jun 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 Zulia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Jun 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Rafael Otero and Zulia agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad14 Jun 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 Zulia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Jun 2027
Aragua made Zulia work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Oscar Herrera 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 terraces14 Jun 2027
At 22 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.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.22, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
In brief
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Player ratings
A masterclass from Oscar Herrera
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Player ratings
A masterclass from Andres Otero
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The terraces
They were still singing at the end
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 68. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Zulia
Darwin Ferraresi 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Zulia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oscar Herrera 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.
Match20 Feb 2027
Three points for Zulia, 1‑0 the final word against Deportivo Lara in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Marked 8.35 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daniel Rincon, and the manager let it.
In brief
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Squad
A Zulia teenager takes the young player award
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Player ratings
A defender's afternoon for Aytor Herrera
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The terraces
The press cannot get enough of Oscar Herrera
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 44. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Daniel Rondon damages knee ligaments — 27 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 27 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Daniel Roca out for 27 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zulia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market1 Feb 2027
Daniel Rincon hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zulia can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad1 Feb 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 Zulia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Jan 2027
Daniel Rondon damages knee ligaments — 34 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 34 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Daniel Roca out for 34 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zulia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market25 Jan 2027
Andres Otero hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zulia can pretend not to have heard.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Daniel Rincon: 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.” Zulia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Zulia
Darwin Ferraresi 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.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
Graduation day at Zulia
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Market25 Jan 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Sergio Gonzalez has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Daniel Rondon
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zulia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Daniel Roca out for 43 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zulia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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 Zulia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jan 2027
Daniel Rondon damages knee ligaments — 59 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 59 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Daniel Roca out for 57 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zulia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market4 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zulia can pretend not to have heard.
Squad4 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 Zulia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Miguel Rosales knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Miguel Rosales trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market4 Jan 2027
Zulia spent the window trying to move Daniel Rincon on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
Daniel Roca in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zulia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Darwin 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daniel Rincon, and the manager let it.