Marked for Daniel Castillo
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Mar 2027
No end in sight to Llaneros's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Llaneros has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Victor Casseres damages knee ligaments — 81 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 81 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.
Match20 Mar 2027
No clean sheets in sight for Llaneros
11 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Match22 Mar 2027
Llaneros sink to position 16
1 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad22 Mar 2027
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market22 Mar 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 Llaneros can pretend not to have heard.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Llaneros
Yefferson Colmenárez 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.
Match20 Mar 2027
0‑2 to Deportivo Tachira, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Llaneros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Richard 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Feb 2027
Victor Casseres damages knee ligaments — 113 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 113 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.
Match20 Feb 2027
Chastening afternoon for Llaneros
A 0‑3 beating by Caracas was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match20 Feb 2027
No end in sight to Llaneros's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Llaneros has to find a result from somewhere.
Market22 Feb 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 Llaneros, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match20 Feb 2027
Llaneros leaking at the back
6 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Llaneros
Yefferson Colmenárez 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.
Match20 Feb 2027
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.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
Nobody left the Llaneros dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Luis Ramirez to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Victor Casseres
144 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.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Juan Cordova: 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.” Llaneros have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market25 Jan 2027
“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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Llaneros
Yefferson Colmenárez 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.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
5 academy graduates step up at Llaneros
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.
Match23 Jan 2027
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market25 Jan 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Richard Casseres is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market25 Jan 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Roberto Casseres is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market25 Jan 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Francisco Ferraresi 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
Words exchanged at Llaneros
Roberto Osorio 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
The medical room confirms 17 days on the sidelines for Miguel Savarino, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Gabriel Ferraresi has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Llaneros 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Jan 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 Llaneros, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market11 Jan 2027
So close: David Rondon’s move dies late
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Deportivo Lara moved on, David Rondon reports back to Llaneros, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad11 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 Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout11 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 Yefferson Colmenárez is on it.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Llaneros, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Questions about Richard Ferraresi on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market30 Nov 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Llaneros
Roberto Osorio and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Cristian Martinez for 15 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Llaneros will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The dugout30 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.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Llaneros. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Daniel Castillo 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” David Rondon commits to Llaneros for another 4 years.
Squad12 Oct 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Roberto Cordova has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Llaneros 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.
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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Cristian Otero has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Llaneros may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Llaneros
Yefferson Colmenárez 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Darwin Soteldo and Llaneros agree another 1 years.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Juan Cordova, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Cristian Martinez 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 dugout5 Oct 2026
David Rondon has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Llaneros 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Llaneros
Yefferson Colmenárez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
53 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout28 Sep 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 Ferraresi is on it.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Juan Cordova 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 Llaneros, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Cristian Otero has written the date down.
Squad28 Sep 2026
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
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
Words exchanged at Llaneros
Roberto Osorio 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 dugout31 Aug 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.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
Darwin Osorio 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 Darwin Osorio trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Yefferson Colmenárez plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.