Marked for Victor Savarino
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Zulia
Victor 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Zulia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rafael 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Alejandro Russo
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Alejandro Russo has come out of that comparison in the side, and Zulia have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
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 Zulia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Rafael Ferraresi’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match12 Aug 2026
Zulia out of the cup
Estudiantes de Merida ended it 1‑6. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Match15 Aug 2026
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Victor Rincon scored in the 88th minute, Metropolitanos had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Zulia took the lot.
Market17 Aug 2026
Zulia say no — this time
The offer from Karpaty for Victor Savarino 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.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
It finished 1-6. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Market17 Aug 2026
Business is business: Juan Castillo goes
Brondby paid $3.7M and Zulia took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad17 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 Zulia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Zulia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jose Soteldo 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“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
Steady
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market10 Aug 2026
Damac 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The name of Victor Savarino has come up in conversations Zulia were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Rafael Ferraresi commits to Zulia for another 5 years.
Squad10 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 Zulia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Zulia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor Soteldo 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zulia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Match8 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Trujillanos will be the happier side with the point.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Chances created: 6. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market3 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market3 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 Zulia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market3 Aug 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Zulia heard it as anything else.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Zulia
Alejandro Russo 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Zulia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rafael 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
Three points for Zulia, 1‑0 the final word against Zamora in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad3 Aug 2026
14 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” David Soteldo and Zulia agree another 1 years.