Marked for Alejandro Ramirez
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Apr 2030
A hiding for Zamora
Beaten 2‑5 by Deportivo La Guaira, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad15 Apr 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zamora this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match13 Apr 2030
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Zamora and Deportivo La Guaira, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad15 Apr 2030
Words at Zamora training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stiven Valencia 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.
The dugout15 Apr 2030
“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.
Boardroom15 Apr 2030
Nobody left the Zamora dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout15 Apr 2030
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 2‑5, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad15 Apr 2030
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.
The dugout15 Apr 2030
Richard Celis has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Zamora 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings1 Apr 2030
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.28, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad1 Apr 2030
Words exchanged at Zamora
Erickson Gallardo 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.
Squad1 Apr 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alejandro Ramirez and Zamora agree another 3 years.
The dugout1 Apr 2030
“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.
Match30 Mar 2030
It finished 1‑0, and it was Richard Celis’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Zamora.
Market1 Apr 2030
No place for Alex Woiski in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Alex Woiski has his answer from Zamora; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout1 Apr 2030
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Oscar Murillo on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout1 Apr 2030
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad1 Apr 2030
Fernando García 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
Crisis
Squad18 Mar 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zamora this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match16 Mar 2030
Trujillanos left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout18 Mar 2030
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings18 Mar 2030
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout18 Mar 2030
Richard Celis has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Zamora 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.
Squad18 Mar 2030
A row about effort at Zamora
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Armando Rivas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Mar 2030
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout18 Mar 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicolás Churín, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead18 Mar 2030
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Metropolitanos in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings4 Mar 2030
Two goals and a mark of 8.29 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad4 Mar 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alejandro Gutiérrez commits to Zamora for another 2 years.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Words at Zamora training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergio Sulbarán 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.
Squad4 Mar 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zamora this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match2 Mar 2030
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: José Antonio Montilla. 2‑0 against Llaneros, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings4 Mar 2030
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout4 Mar 2030
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Zamora told Cristian Díaz something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout4 Mar 2030
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Oscar Murillo on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout4 Mar 2030
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.