Marked for Sergio Advincula
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Cienciano
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Claudio Núñez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad16 Aug 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 Cienciano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
Juan Romagnoli has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Cienciano will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
Henry Caparó 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.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
Santiago Arias 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 Santiago Arias trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
The manager makes Carlos León a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Cienciano. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout26 Jul 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Cienciano may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Cienciano until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Alianza Lima keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Market26 Jul 2027
The deal that would have taken Jordan Quispe to Ayacucho has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Cienciano with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
The offer went to Universitario this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad26 Jul 2027
A move Nicolás Pelaez 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. Nicolás Pelaez is living that version at Cienciano, and it tends to show in the first month.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Cienciano asked and Estudiantes said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad26 Jul 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 Cienciano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Cienciano will try again when the window opens; Alianza Atletico may not be selling by then.