Marked for Francisco Cordova
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 47. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market6 Mar 2028
“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.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Fabian Hernandez commits to Zulia for another 4 years.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Aamos Oinas gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Aamos Oinas has just signed for Zulia, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words at Zulia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salomon 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.
Match4 Mar 2028
Zulia cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad6 Mar 2028
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.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.45 on the card, and the Zulia support went home talking about one name.
Market6 Mar 2028
He is 18, and nobody at Zulia signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 55. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match23 Feb 2028
The cup run ends for Zulia
0‑7 against Deportivo La Guaira, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
The terraces28 Feb 2028
Zulia are taken apart by Deportivo La Guaira — and the town wants answers
It finished 0-7. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
A first appearance Chima Stephen will want to forget — 5.77
Everybody's debut is one of two stories and this was the other one. 5.77, and the only consolation available is that nobody's career has ever been decided by ninety minutes in a shirt he had just been given.
Market28 Feb 2028
Only the photograph left for Gabriel Machis
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gabriel Machis will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zulia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match23 Feb 2028
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Zulia and Deportivo La Guaira, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Whether it was the goalkeeper or the ten in front of him is the argument that will fill every conversation in town this week. 4 saves does not settle it either way.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Zulia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor Soteldo 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 54. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
Cristian Rincon, 33, rolls back the years — 7.87
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.87 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad21 Feb 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Luis Rosales and Zulia agree another 1 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Feb 2028
“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 Zulia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Chima Stephen gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Chima Stephen has just signed for Zulia, and for once the answer mattered.
Match5 Feb 2028
1‑3 to Deportivo La Guaira, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad7 Feb 2028
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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
“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.
Market7 Feb 2028
He is 20, and nobody at Zulia signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Market7 Feb 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Gabriel Machis has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Zulia.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match29 Jan 2028
Zulia win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. Estudiantes de Merida will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Match29 Jan 2028
Nobody wins at Zulia
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Market31 Jan 2028
Only the photograph left for Gabriel Machis
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gabriel Machis will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zulia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad31 Jan 2028
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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Zulia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor Soteldo 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.
Match29 Jan 2028
A 1‑0 win over Estudiantes de Merida, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
Marked 7.86. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad31 Jan 2028
“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.
In brief
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Squad
Guillermo Guzmán asks for a word with the manager
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Boardroom
The Zulia production line keeps running
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 62. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Fabian Hernandez damages knee ligaments — 88 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 88 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 27 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market14 Jun 2027
“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 Zulia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom14 Jun 2027
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Jose Murillo has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Match12 Jun 2027
Zulia make home a hard place to visit
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Market14 Jun 2027
Business is business: Luis Martinez goes
Mineros de Guayana paid $130.0K and Zulia took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad14 Jun 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Apr 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 93 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad12 Apr 2027
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Cristian Cordova: 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.” Zulia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match10 Apr 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Zulia and Llaneros, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
A performance of 9.88 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match10 Apr 2027
Llaneros made Zulia work for it, but the scoreboard read 4‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad12 Apr 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.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Marked 8.20 — 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 ratings12 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad29 Mar 2027
Sergio Murillo breaks a bone — 107 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 107 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad29 Mar 2027
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Match27 Mar 2027
A 3‑2 win over Estudiantes de Caracas, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad29 Mar 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.
Squad29 Mar 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.
The terraces29 Mar 2027
Zulia supporters have found a favourite in Juan Murillo
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Juan Murillo 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.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Marked 8.54 — 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 ratings29 Mar 2027
Marked 8.14 — 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 ratings29 Mar 2027
Ninety minutes of Daniel Herrera at his very best
Marked 8.10. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Zulia.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Dec 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 Zulia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Cristian Cordova and Zulia agree another 4 years.
Squad28 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.
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
Squad23 Nov 2026
Roberto Murillo damages knee ligaments — 28 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
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.
Squad23 Nov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
Roberto Murillo damages knee ligaments — 42 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 42 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.
Squad9 Nov 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Carlos Rincon knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Carlos Rincon trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Roberto Murillo
78 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zulia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad5 Oct 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.
Squad5 Oct 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
Roberto Murillo damages knee ligaments — 86 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 86 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.
Squad28 Sep 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Carlos Rincon, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Roberto Murillo
94 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zulia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Zulia may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad21 Sep 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.
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 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.