The Deportes Santa Cruz Sentinel
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
Alex Valdes scores twice — 8.47
Two goals and a mark of 8.47 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market12 Feb 2029
Alex Valdes has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Deportes Santa Cruz they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market12 Feb 2029
Emanuel Pereira puts it in writing
“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 The request is on a desk at Deportes Santa Cruz, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
Juan Méndez keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Deportes Santa Cruz may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match10 Feb 2029
No end in sight to Deportes Santa Cruz's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Deportes Santa Cruz has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad12 Feb 2029
6 saves: Juan Dobboletta was the team
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Boardroom12 Feb 2029
Alex Valdes has agreed to leave Deportes Santa Cruz for nothing
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Boardroom12 Feb 2029
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Deportes Santa Cruz
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.
Transfer targets12 Feb 2029
Deportes La Serena tell Deportes Santa Cruz: Lucas Di Maio 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.
In brief
- Squad Tempers go at Deportes Santa Cruz
- Market One of our own: Eduardo Osorio joins the Deportes Santa Cruz first team
- Market One of our own: Diego Suazo joins the Deportes Santa Cruz first team