Marked for Darwin Murillo
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 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.
Squad14 Sep 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Cristian Rincon has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
Astra are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Zulia will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad31 Aug 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Jose Moreno
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to David Soteldo, and the manager let it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Zulia 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Zulia
Cristian Otero 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
Steady
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” David Soteldo and Zulia agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 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 Zulia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match8 Aug 2026
Trujillanos left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad10 Aug 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.
Squad10 Aug 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.