Marked for Darwin Murillo
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market27 Dec 2027
The offer from Caracas for Rafael Moreno 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.
Market27 Dec 2027
Darwin Osorio 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 Atletico Venezuela can pretend not to have heard.
The terraces27 Dec 2027
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Carlos Murillo was one of the reasons people came, and $190.0K does not replace that by itself.
Market27 Dec 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Atletico Venezuela they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad27 Dec 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.
Market27 Dec 2027
Llaneros paid $190.0K and Atletico Venezuela took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom20 Dec 2027
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market20 Dec 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 The request is on a desk at Atletico Venezuela, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Gonzalo Baglivo gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Gonzalo Baglivo has just signed for Atletico Venezuela, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad20 Dec 2027
He is 21, he is averaging 7.10, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Market20 Dec 2027
The paperwork is done: Darwin Murillo joins from Llaneros in a deal worth $150.0K. Now comes the harder part.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom20 Dec 2027
They will talk about this season in this town for a long time. The trophy comes home with the squad, and the route is already agreed.
Match20 Dec 2027
Llaneros up to position 1
63 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad20 Dec 2027
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Llaneros will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Wilfred Correa 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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Juan Osorio 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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
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.
Market20 Dec 2027
A season-long look at somebody else’s player: Tiago arrives from Grêmio with something to prove and a return ticket in the drawer. Good loans make everybody richer; this one starts Saturday.
Market20 Dec 2027
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Sergio Gonzalez leaves Llaneros the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match11 Dec 2027
A chastening European night for Llaneros
1‑6 against O'Higgins. The honest reading is not that the players were poor; it is that the distance between this club and that one is currently measured in things money takes years to buy.
Squad13 Dec 2027
There were 10 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market13 Dec 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The terraces13 Dec 2027
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 7 of the 30 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Market13 Dec 2027
Joaquín Núñez 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 Llaneros can pretend not to have heard.
Squad13 Dec 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.
Match11 Dec 2027
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Llaneros and O'Higgins in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Llaneros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Osorio 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.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Ninety minutes of Diego Otoya at his very best
Marked 8.04. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Llaneros.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market6 Dec 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Alejandro Rincon 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Joaquín Núñez gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Joaquín Núñez has just signed for Llaneros, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Juan Osorio 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
The manager makes an example of Juan Osorio
“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.
Market6 Dec 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Juan Moreno’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 Nov 2027
Darwin Murillo has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Llaneros they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Léo stays put
“The easiest signature of my career.” Léo and Llaneros agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Juan Moreno 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad18 Oct 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Llaneros may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market18 Oct 2027
Darwin Murillo has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Llaneros they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad18 Oct 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad20 Sep 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Alejandro Rincon
59 goals and a season average of 8.12 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match18 Sep 2027
2‑7. There is a level at which football is played every single week by clubs that have been doing it for fifty years, and an evening like this is what it feels like to arrive there without having done it.
Squad20 Sep 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Luis Cordova
43 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.
Squad20 Sep 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.
The terraces20 Sep 2027
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.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Wilfred Correa, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.63
A mark of 7.63 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market20 Sep 2027
Darwin Murillo has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Llaneros they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market23 Aug 2027
The name of Alejandro Rincon has come up in conversations Llaneros were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad23 Aug 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.
Market23 Aug 2027
Only the photograph left for Darwin Murillo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Darwin Murillo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Llaneros the goodbyes have quietly begun.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Jul 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Alejandro Rincon
52 goals and a season average of 8.02 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Market26 Jul 2027
$870.0K. No player has ever cost Llaneros more, and expectation arrives with him.
Squad26 Jul 2027
The match ball belongs to Alejandro Rincon, whose 4 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Lautaro Napolitano did not need any: 7.88, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market26 Jul 2027
Only the photograph left for Darwin Murillo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Darwin Murillo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Llaneros the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Alejandro Rincon was on a different afternoon to everybody else
10.00. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Match24 Jul 2027
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Llaneros and Zulia in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match24 Jul 2027
Three points for Llaneros, 4‑2 the final word against Zulia in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces26 Jul 2027
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Wilfred Correa from Caracas for $870.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Jul 2027
48 goals and a season average of 7.97. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.61, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Fernando 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.
Match17 Jul 2027
Deportivo La Guaira left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad19 Jul 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Francisco Machis 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.
Market19 Jul 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alejandro Rincon signs something — a contract at Llaneros or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
He was not in the side at half past three and he had settled it before five. Half an hour, and Llaneros had a different afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad28 Jun 2027
44 goals and a season average of 7.94. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
A brace, and Alejandro Rincon takes the afternoon — 8.90
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alejandro Rincon provided it, and the 8.90 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad28 Jun 2027
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market28 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Lautaro Napolitano did not need any: 7.88, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market28 Jun 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.
Market28 Jun 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Llaneros have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Match26 Jun 2027
A 3‑1 win over Metropolitanos, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Juan Moreno 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad7 Jun 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Alejandro Rincon
38 goals and a season average of 7.88 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match7 Jun 2027
Llaneros up to position 1
44 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Match5 Jun 2027
3‑0, and Alejandro Rincon took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Llaneros tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Market7 Jun 2027
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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
The match ball belongs to Alejandro Rincon, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Match5 Jun 2027
Llaneros make it 5 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Llaneros have 5 straight wins of it.
Market7 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 Llaneros, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 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 Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Cristian Otero 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match5 Apr 2027
Llaneros refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 22 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A season average of 7.39 with 17 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad5 Apr 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.
Market5 Apr 2027
Rafael Arango has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Llaneros they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Fernando 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.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Marked 8.59 — 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
22 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Market5 Apr 2027
Cristian Otero is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Llaneros has been clear about where Cristian Otero stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Mar 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match24 Feb 2027
Carabobo ended it 1‑5. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Market1 Mar 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.
The terraces1 Mar 2027
A cup hiding at Carabobo leaves Llaneros explaining themselves
1-5, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Match24 Feb 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Llaneros and Carabobo, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Rodrigo Escandar 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.
Loan watch1 Mar 2027
“I did not go to Estudiantes de Caracas to sit and watch. I want to come back to Llaneros and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 10 matches say the rest.
Match27 Feb 2027
It finished 1‑0, and it was Darwin Castillo’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Llaneros.
Squad1 Mar 2027
57 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Rodrigo Escandar commits to Llaneros for another 2 years.
Squad7 Dec 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.
Market7 Dec 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Carlos Soteldo has his answer from Llaneros; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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 Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Llaneros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Darwin Murillo 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.
Market30 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alejandro Rincon signs something — a contract at Llaneros or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 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 Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Roberto Cordova and Llaneros agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Darwin Murillo 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.
In brief
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Squad
Léo asks for a word with the manager