Marked for Roberto Ramirez
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match24 Feb 2027
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Atletico Venezuela scored in the 111th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Market1 Mar 2027
Tobol come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Atletico Venezuela did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
A debut Roberto Ramirez will not forget — 7.29
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 0 on the scoresheet, 7.29 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
Match27 Feb 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Atletico Venezuela did not have in the autumn.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Gabriel Herrera 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.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
The terraces1 Mar 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Salomon Soteldo has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match27 Feb 2027
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Feb 2027
Erick Sarmiento 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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Market1 Feb 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Roberto Ferraresi has his answer from Atletico Venezuela; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Roberto Ramirez and Atletico Venezuela agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Loan watch1 Feb 2027
“I watch every Atletico Venezuela game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Deportivo Lara runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Marked 7.71. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Jan 2027
Rafael Moreno 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 Atletico Venezuela can pretend not to have heard.
Squad25 Jan 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Atletico Venezuela may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad25 Jan 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 Atletico Venezuela this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
The terraces25 Jan 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Victor Ramirez has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Market25 Jan 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Roberto Ramirez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market25 Jan 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Daniel 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.
Market25 Jan 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Andres Savarino 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.