Marked for Daniel Herrera
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 52. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market22 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Diego 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Juan Murillo 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 Zulia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces22 Feb 2027
Zulia supporters have found a favourite in Victor Moreno
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Victor Moreno has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match20 Feb 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Carlos Rincon. 1‑0 against Deportivo Lara, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Marked 8.08 — 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alfredo Mendoza, and the manager let it.
Squad22 Feb 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Zulia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Guillermo Guzmán 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.
Match13 Feb 2027
A bad afternoon for Zulia against Caracas
1‑2 to Caracas, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Zulia
Juan Murillo 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Too much change too quickly at Zulia
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Feb 2027
Zulia taken apart
0‑3 to Deportivo La Guaira, 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.
Market8 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.
Squad8 Feb 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 Zulia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Victor Soteldo 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Carlos Rincon has his answer from Zulia; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad8 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Andres 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.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
Inquest at Zulia
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Darwin Rosales and Zulia agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match30 Jan 2027
No mercy from Zulia
Estudiantes de Merida will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Zulia were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Market1 Feb 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zulia can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
A brace, and Carlos Rincon takes the afternoon — 8.89
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Carlos Rincon provided it, and the 8.89 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market1 Feb 2027
Zulia say no — this time
The offer from Al Ahli for Luis Rosales 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.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Age has not caught Luis Rosales yet — 8.20
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.20 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A move José Durán would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. José Durán is living that version at Zulia, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Zulia
Guillermo Guzmán 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Zulia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Daniel Herrera has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Zulia.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 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.
The terraces14 Dec 2026
Zulia spend $48.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $48.0K for Emmanuel Chacón, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Guillermo Guzmán 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 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 Zulia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market14 Dec 2026
He is 19, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Market14 Dec 2026
Roberto Murillo is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Zulia has been clear about where Roberto Murillo stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
Roberto Murillo damages knee ligaments — 35 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 35 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Zulia may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Daniel Herrera pulls a muscle — 17 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 17 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Aug 2026
Zulia bow out of the cup
Deportivo Tachira go through and Zulia go home, 2‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Squad24 Aug 2026
There were 6 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.
Match19 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Zulia's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Zulia has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Diego 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Luis Rosales 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 Zulia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Diego Murillo, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 53. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Luis Martinez decides it from twelve yards
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Victor Moreno at 18 — 7.61
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Victor Moreno did not need any: 7.61, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market17 Aug 2026
Zulia say no — this time
The offer from Damac for Cristian Rincon 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
4 matches without a win for Zulia
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Zulia are no longer polite ones.
Market17 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Zulia have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Zulia
Francisco Cordova 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.
Squad17 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Daniel Herrera and Zulia agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Daniel Herrera 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Zulia
Luis Rosales 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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A mark of 7.91, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Match8 Aug 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Zulia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Herrera 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.
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 Zulia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
31 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Roberto Murillo and Zulia agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match1 Aug 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Zamora defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.