Marked for Daniel Ramirez
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Jan 2032
10 matches without a win for Zulia
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Zulia are no longer polite ones.
Match24 Jan 2032
Chastening afternoon for Zulia
A 1‑4 beating by Deportivo Tachira was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad26 Jan 2032
14 days out for Daniel Ramirez after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zulia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad26 Jan 2032
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market26 Jan 2032
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zulia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom26 Jan 2032
12 academy players handed senior numbers at Zulia
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad26 Jan 2032
Hermes Rodríguez 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.
The dugout26 Jan 2032
The manager makes an example of Juan Tineo
“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.
Market26 Jan 2032
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Miguel Otero 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Jan 2032
Zulia sink to position 14
18 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad19 Jan 2032
A fracture rules Daniel Ramirez out for 21 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zulia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad19 Jan 2032
A row about effort at Zulia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hermes Rodríguez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad19 Jan 2032
35 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad19 Jan 2032
Tempers go at Zulia
Pablo Martínez 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 dugout19 Jan 2032
The manager makes an example of José Flores
“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.
The dugout19 Jan 2032
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Bahiano Farías is on it.
The dugout19 Jan 2032
Pablo Martínez knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zulia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market19 Jan 2032
Zulia have made Álex Sánchez available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
In brief
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Boardroom
The Zulia academy earns its keep
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The dugout
The manager comes out for Moisés Gallo
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces12 Jan 2032
Anger at Zulia spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom12 Jan 2032
The scrutiny sharpens at Zulia
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Zulia is running low.
Squad12 Jan 2032
28 days out for Daniel Ramirez after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zulia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market12 Jan 2032
So close: Romer Revilla’s move dies late
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Atletico Venezuela moved on, Romer Revilla reports back to Zulia, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad12 Jan 2032
Tempers go at Zulia
Juan Tineo 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.
Transfer targets12 Jan 2032
The clock did what Carabobo would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Squad12 Jan 2032
A row about effort at Zulia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Valdés was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad12 Jan 2032
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” José Flores and Zulia agree another 4 years.
The dugout12 Jan 2032
Moisés Gallo has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Zulia 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom5 Jan 2032
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom5 Jan 2032
The Zulia board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Squad5 Jan 2032
A fracture rules Daniel Ramirez out for 35 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zulia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Transfer targets5 Jan 2032
Zulia have gone to Carabobo with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets5 Jan 2032
The deal with Atletico Venezuela is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad5 Jan 2032
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kevin De La Hoz and Zulia agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Jan 2032
Words exchanged at Zulia
Juan Tineo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad5 Jan 2032
A row about effort at Zulia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edgar Silva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market29 Dec 2031
“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.
Squad29 Dec 2031
42 days out for Daniel Ramirez after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zulia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Transfer targets29 Dec 2031
Everything was agreed with Zamora and then the doctor spoke. Zulia have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
Market29 Dec 2031
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ezequiel Cardozo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zulia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad29 Dec 2031
A falling-out at Zulia
Juan Tineo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Dec 2031
A row about effort at Zulia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edgar Silva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets29 Dec 2031
Zulia asked and Aragua said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout29 Dec 2031
“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.
Market29 Dec 2031
He is 19, 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market22 Dec 2031
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zulia have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match22 Dec 2031
Zulia are in real trouble now
Position 14, 18 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad22 Dec 2031
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad22 Dec 2031
Juan Tineo 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.
Boardroom22 Dec 2031
Zamora will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Alejandro Arango has pre-agreed a move to Zulia, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Transfer targets22 Dec 2031
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.
Squad22 Dec 2031
Pedro Valdés 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 Dec 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daniel Ferraresi and Zulia agree another 3 years.
Transfer targets22 Dec 2031
A loan enquiry to Carabobo: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 Jul 2031
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Squad7 Jul 2031
A fracture rules Álex Sánchez out for 88 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zulia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market7 Jul 2031
Romer Revilla 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 Zulia can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout7 Jul 2031
“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.
Market7 Jul 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zulia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market7 Jul 2031
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Zulia have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Player ratings7 Jul 2031
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Jul 2031
Moisés Gallo 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.