Junior Soteldo

Central Defender - Estudiantes de Caracas
28 Mar 2027
Sunday
Process

Marked for Junior Soteldo

32 Edition

The Estudiantes de Caracas Gazette

8 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A fracture rules Jose Ferraresi out for 29 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Estudiantes de Caracas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Player ratings

Wilson Barrios scores twice — 9.12

Two goals and a mark of 9.12 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Squad

Carlos Savarino says Estudiantes de Caracas went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Market

Junior Soteldo hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Estudiantes de Caracas can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Wilson Barrios signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Wilson Barrios commits to Estudiantes de Caracas for another 4 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Estudiantes de Caracas

José Cadenas 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.

Match

Estudiantes de Caracas get the job done against Deportivo Tachira

A 3‑2 win over Deportivo Tachira, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings

Darwin Casseres in the eights

A performance of 8.70 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Player ratings

Juan Castillo runs at them all day

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.

In brief

Back issues
30 Edition

The Estudiantes de Caracas Gazette

22 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Carlos Savarino

24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Estudiantes de Caracas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

A fracture rules Jose Ferraresi out for 43 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Estudiantes de Caracas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Diego Murillo takes the match ball home

3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.

Player ratings

Oscar Soteldo runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market

Junior Arango asks to leave Estudiantes de Caracas

“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.

Squad

Tempers go at Estudiantes de Caracas

José Cadenas 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.

In brief

27 Edition

The Estudiantes de Caracas Gazette

1 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

The wait goes on for Estudiantes de Caracas

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.

Market

Junior Soteldo hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Estudiantes de Caracas can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Miguel Savarino says Estudiantes de Caracas went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Squad

José Cadenas 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 Estudiantes de Caracas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Oscar Soteldo

Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market

No place for Salomon Arango in the plan

“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Salomon Arango has his answer from Estudiantes de Caracas; what he does with it is the next window’s story.

Squad

Words at Estudiantes de Caracas training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andres 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.

Squad

No hiding place for Andres Murillo

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andres Murillo, and the manager let it.

Match

Estudiantes de Caracas share the spoils with Atletico Venezuela

A 1‑1 draw with Atletico Venezuela leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

In brief

25 Edition

The Estudiantes de Caracas Gazette

18 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Junior Arango hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Estudiantes de Caracas can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

José Cadenas 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 Estudiantes de Caracas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Salomon Arango 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.

In brief

23 Edition

The Estudiantes de Caracas Gazette

4 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Andres Murillo

24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Estudiantes de Caracas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Junior Soteldo hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Estudiantes de Caracas can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

José Cadenas 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 Estudiantes de Caracas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

21 Edition

The Estudiantes de Caracas Gazette

21 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Andres Murillo

38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Estudiantes de Caracas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

A fracture rules Fernando Martinez out for 22 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Estudiantes de Caracas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Miguel Ramirez hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Estudiantes de Caracas can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Ítalo Sulbarán is a Estudiantes de Caracas player

The fee is $40.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Zamora drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.

The terraces

Estudiantes de Caracas spend $40.0K on the signing the town wanted

It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $40.0K for Ítalo Sulbarán, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.

Squad

Junior Soteldo out for 53 days

The medical room confirms 53 days on the sidelines for Junior Soteldo, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

In brief

18 Edition

The Estudiantes de Caracas Gazette

30 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Juan Rondon

21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Estudiantes de Caracas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Junior Soteldo hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Estudiantes de Caracas can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Tempers go at Estudiantes de Caracas

Gabriel 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.

In brief

15 Edition

The Estudiantes de Caracas Gazette

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Juan Rondon damages knee ligaments — 43 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 43 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.

Market

Junior Arango puts it in writing

“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 Estudiantes de Caracas, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Darwin Castillo 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 Estudiantes de Caracas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

12 Edition

The Estudiantes de Caracas Gazette

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Juan Rondon damages knee ligaments — 64 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 64 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Estudiantes de Caracas

José Cadenas 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.

Squad

Junior 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.

In brief

11 Edition

The Estudiantes de Caracas Gazette

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Juan Rondon damages knee ligaments — 71 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 71 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.

Market

Junior Arango asks to leave Estudiantes de Caracas

“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.

Squad

Salomon Arango 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.

In brief

9 Edition

The Estudiantes de Caracas Gazette

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Juan Rondon damages knee ligaments — 85 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 85 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.

Market

Junior Soteldo asks to leave Estudiantes de Caracas

“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.

Squad

José Cadenas 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 Estudiantes de Caracas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

5 Edition

The Estudiantes de Caracas Gazette

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Junior Soteldo asks to leave Estudiantes de Caracas

“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.

Squad

Estudiantes de Caracas count the cost of losing Sergio Savarino

41 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Squad

Salomon Arango 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.

In brief

1 Edition

The Estudiantes de Caracas Gazette

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Junior Soteldo asks to leave Estudiantes de Caracas

“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.

Player ratings

Oscar Soteldo runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market

Sanfrecce Hiroshima join the queue for Salomon Rondon

Add another name to the list: Sanfrecce Hiroshima have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Salomon Rondon. The answer from Estudiantes de Caracas has not changed — yet.

Squad

Carlos Savarino signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Carlos Savarino and Estudiantes de Caracas agree another 2 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Estudiantes de Caracas

Darwin Castillo 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.

Squad

Juan Rondon gets it from the manager

“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.

Squad

Andres 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 ratings

The game went through Miguel Ramirez — 6.67

Marked 6.67 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.

Match

Estudiantes de Caracas share the spoils with Portuguesa

A 2‑2 draw with Portuguesa leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

In brief