Marked for Rafael Arango
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match19 Aug 2026
Llaneros march on in the cup
Deportivo Lara are out and Llaneros go through, 4‑3 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.89, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Carlos Herrera at 19 — 8.42
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Carlos Herrera did not need any: 8.42, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market24 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Oscar Machis again, and this time the name on the line is Fatih Karagumruk. Llaneros are listening politely and promising nothing.
Match19 Aug 2026
Nobody wants to play Llaneros right now
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 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 Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Aug 2026
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Llaneros and Deportivo Lara in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 Aug 2026
There were 11 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.
Match8 Aug 2026
The 4-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Oscar Machis was at the centre of it, Aragua were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.84, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The match ball belongs to Oscar Machis, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market10 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.
Match8 Aug 2026
A 5‑4 win over Aragua, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rafael Arango and Llaneros agree another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Erick Sarmiento 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
Squad3 Aug 2026
The medical room confirms 62 days on the sidelines for Carlos Ferraresi, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Oscar 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Rafael Arango
“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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Salomon Rosales 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
It needed Richard Ramirez to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Deportivo Lara, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 10. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
The substitution nobody applauded turned out to be the whole story. Llaneros were going nowhere until he came on.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Chances created: 7. 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Andres Murillo’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.