Marked for Juan Osorio
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Dec 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 Atletico Venezuela can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Yeferson Rincon out for 42 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Atletico Venezuela will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad28 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 Atletico Venezuela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Atletico Venezuela training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rafael Ramirez 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.
Transfer targets28 Dec 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Temperley have kept their man, and Atletico Venezuela go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets28 Dec 2026
Estudiantes have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets28 Dec 2026
Godoy Cruz have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Luis Castillo gets picked when it counts
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 Luis Castillo is on it.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Atletico Venezuela. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
103 days out for Yeferson Rincon after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Atletico Venezuela will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market2 Nov 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 Atletico Venezuela can pretend not to have heard.
Squad2 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 Atletico Venezuela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Atletico Venezuela 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Atletico Venezuela will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Diego Otero gets picked when it counts
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 Diego Otero is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Oct 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 Atletico Venezuela can pretend not to have heard.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Rafael Ramirez 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
David Osorio has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Atletico Venezuela 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Atletico Venezuela 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.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Jose Ramirez's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Atletico Venezuela will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Marcos Pereira and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Miguel Moreno and Atletico Venezuela agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match2 Oct 2026
0‑0 against Boston River, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad5 Oct 2026
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.
Market5 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad5 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 Atletico Venezuela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Rafael Ramirez 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Luis Rondon and Atletico Venezuela agree another 1 years.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Alejandro Herrera was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Atletico Venezuela dressing room was either.
Market5 Oct 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Atletico Venezuela, another week without a signature from Diego Ramirez.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Aug 2026
Fernando Rondon 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.
Market31 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.