The Aragua Chronicle
Squad20 Jan 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ismael Páez
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aragua lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market20 Jan 2031
Marcelo Hornos asks to leave Aragua
“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.
Squad20 Jan 2031
Leonel Moreno 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 Aragua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Jan 2031
Words at Aragua training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wilken Ramírez 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.
Transfer targets20 Jan 2031
Estudiantes de Merida tell Aragua: Santino Cambiasso is not for sale
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market20 Jan 2031
One of our own: Alejandro Rincon joins the Aragua first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Alejandro Rincon is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market20 Jan 2031
Aragua promote Victor Ramirez from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Victor Ramirez has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market20 Jan 2031
Sergio Gonzalez steps up from the Aragua academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Sergio Gonzalez has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Looking ahead20 Jan 2031
Ronny Maza goes back to face Trujillanos
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ronny Maza’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Aragua needing him to play as if none of it matters.
In brief
- Squad Raí Ramos needs a bigger stage
- The dugout The manager makes Jorge Duarte a promise
- The dugout Darwin Ramirez knocks on the manager’s door