Marked for Salomon Casseres
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Juan Martinez
88 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.
Match24 Jul 2027
3‑6 to Zulia, 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Richard Osorio 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.
Match24 Jul 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between Llaneros and Zulia, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Cristian 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.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
A performance of 8.92 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Marked 8.29 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Jun 2027
Every point is an argument now for Llaneros
Position 14 and 15 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market21 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Gastón González: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Llaneros have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Llaneros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian 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.
Match19 Jun 2027
Trujillanos left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Feb 2027
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.
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.
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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alejandro Gonzalez commits to Llaneros for another 4 years.
Match30 Jan 2027
Llaneros are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Jesús Villarroel 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
Squad4 Jan 2027
Richard Osorio 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
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Salomon Casseres, and the manager let it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Gastón González and Llaneros agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Jan 2027
11 new faces, and Llaneros are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Market4 Jan 2027
Still no offer on the table, and Gastón González’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Market4 Jan 2027
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Bautista Biffi arrives at Llaneros with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Dec 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.
Market28 Dec 2026
The phone has started ringing about Darwin Rondon again, and this time the name on the line is Deportes Quindio. Llaneros are listening politely and promising nothing.
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 Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Luis Murillo out for 86 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.
Market28 Sep 2026
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Richard Osorio wants continental football; whether Llaneros can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Richard Osorio 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
Squad21 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Luis Murillo out for 93 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.
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 Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Salomon Casseres trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Luis Murillo out for 100 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Salomon Casseres: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Llaneros have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Llaneros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Castillo 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.