Marked for Darwin Gonzalez
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 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 Estudiantes de Caracas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
34 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francisco 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer from Kryvbas for Darwin Gonzalez 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.
Squad31 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 Estudiantes de Caracas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Jair Andara 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
Uneasy
Match12 Aug 2026
Out, 0‑1 to Zamora, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 13 of the 39 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A chastening introduction for Juan Murillo — 5.49
It is a hard way to meet a crowd. Marked 5.49 on the day he was handed the shirt, and the important thing now is what the next one looks like.
Match15 Aug 2026
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Estudiantes de Caracas are no longer polite ones.
Squad17 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 Estudiantes de Caracas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Jair Andara 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Darwin Castillo, and the manager let it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Junior Machis and Estudiantes de Caracas agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 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 Estudiantes de Caracas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Darwin Gonzalez, and the manager let it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Darwin Moreno 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Alejandro Machis’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
4 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.