Marked for Yeferson Ramirez
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces22 Nov 2027
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad22 Nov 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Yeferson Ramirez
125 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Estudiantes de Caracas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 83 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Nov 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Yeferson Ramirez
134 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Estudiantes de Caracas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 90 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad15 Nov 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 Estudiantes de Caracas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Nov 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Yeferson Ramirez
141 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Estudiantes de Caracas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 97 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market8 Nov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Jun 2027
A fracture rules Fernando Machis out for 32 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Estudiantes de Caracas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market21 Jun 2027
Léo 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 Estudiantes de Caracas can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Fernando Machis 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
The paperwork is done: Yeferson Ramirez joins from Llaneros in a deal worth $48.0K. Now comes the harder part.
The terraces21 Jun 2027
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $48.0K for Yeferson Ramirez, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
The afternoon belonged to Juan Osorio
7.89, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Estudiantes de Caracas had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Match19 Jun 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad21 Jun 2027
The manager makes an example of Diego Mejia
“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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Otero 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Jun 2027
A fracture rules David Cordova out for 37 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Llaneros will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market21 Jun 2027
Llaneros say no — this time
The offer from Gornik Zabrze for Jose Arango 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.
Market21 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Llaneros may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
The terraces21 Jun 2027
Supporters turn on the $48.0K sale of Yeferson Ramirez
He is going to Estudiantes de Caracas, the club has $48.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Squad21 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.
The terraces21 Jun 2027
Llaneros spend $56.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $56.0K for Sergio Otero, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Juan 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
Estudiantes de Caracas paid $48.0K and Llaneros took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Apr 2027
A fracture rules David Cordova out for 119 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Llaneros will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match3 Apr 2027
0‑3 to Deportivo La Guaira, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market5 Apr 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.
Match3 Apr 2027
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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Alejandro Gutiérrez is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Nahuel Fontes gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Nahuel Fontes has just signed for Llaneros, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Juan Machis 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 Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match3 Apr 2027
The goals have deserted Llaneros
3 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.
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Mar 2027
David Cordova breaks a bone — 148 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 148 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market8 Mar 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Andres Moreno and Llaneros agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Juan Machis 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 Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match6 Mar 2027
It finished 2‑0, and it was Jose Arango’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Llaneros.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.35, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Iago Oliveira 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.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market8 Mar 2027
Llaneros have made Sergio Herrera available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Feb 2027
Juan Machis breaks a bone — 29 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 37. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match30 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for Llaneros
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market1 Feb 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Andres 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
Juan Machis told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Juan Machis has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Llaneros.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.91 on the card, and the Llaneros support went home talking about one name.
Match30 Jan 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Mineros de Guayana leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Diego Ferraresi, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Jan 2027
Juan Machis breaks a bone — 45 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 45 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Junior Machis
23 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Juan Machis 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
Uneasy
Squad11 Jan 2027
Juan Machis breaks a bone — 52 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 52 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Junior Machis damages knee ligaments — 31 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 31 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Jan 2027
Juan Machis breaks a bone — 59 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 59 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Junior Machis
39 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
Victor Arango 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Juan Machis 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
17 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2026
Junior Machis damages knee ligaments — 47 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 47 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Juan Machis breaks a bone — 66 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 66 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market28 Dec 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Junior Machis
69 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 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Juan Machis out for 88 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Llaneros will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market7 Dec 2026
The paperwork is done: José Ardila joins from Deportivo Lara in a deal worth $68.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Jose Arango 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 Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces7 Dec 2026
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: José Ardila from Deportivo Lara for $68.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Market7 Dec 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Victor Arango has his answer from Llaneros; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 116 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Juan Machis 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“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.