Marked for Roberto Murillo
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Jul 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Roberto Murillo
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Carabobo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market9 Jul 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Carabobo can pretend not to have heard.
Market9 Jul 2029
Aragua come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Carabobo did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad9 Jul 2029
A move Valentín Baudrino 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. Valentín Baudrino is living that version at Carabobo, and it tends to show in the first month.
Match7 Jul 2029
No end in sight to Carabobo's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Carabobo has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad9 Jul 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Maurice Cova commits to Carabobo for another 2 years.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Víctor Cabrera 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.
Player ratings9 Jul 2029
21 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Player ratings9 Jul 2029
Marked 7.59 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Carabobo had the best player on the pitch.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Jul 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Roberto Murillo
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Carabobo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market2 Jul 2029
Carabobo say no — this time
The offer from Zulia for Kevin Ojeda was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market2 Jul 2029
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad2 Jul 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Maurice Cova and Carabobo agree another 2 years.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Juan Camilo Pérez 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.
Market2 Jul 2029
Add another name to the list: Metropolitanos have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Loureins Martínez. The answer from Carabobo has not changed — yet.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Words at Carabobo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Ferrari 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.
Market2 Jul 2029
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Franco Ferrari has his answer from Carabobo; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Match30 Jun 2029
0‑1 to Deportivo Lara, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Jun 2029
Roberto Murillo damages knee ligaments — 30 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 30 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad25 Jun 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Carabobo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market25 Jun 2029
Add another name to the list: Deportivo Lara have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Kevin Ojeda. The answer from Carabobo has not changed — yet.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Franco Ferrari 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.
Squad25 Jun 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Franco Ferrari, and the manager let it.
Player ratings25 Jun 2029
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match23 Jun 2029
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The terraces25 Jun 2029
Everybody has an opinion about Maurice Cova
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Player ratings25 Jun 2029
An afternoon Maurice Cova will want back
Marked 5.50. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jun 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Roberto Murillo
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Carabobo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad18 Jun 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Carabobo may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market18 Jun 2029
Carabobo say no — this time
The offer from Metropolitanos for Loureins Martínez was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Juan Camilo Pérez 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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Words at Carabobo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yohandry Orozco 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.
Market18 Jun 2029
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Frankarlos Benítez has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Carabobo.
Match16 Jun 2029
0‑2 to Deportivo La Guaira, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market18 Jun 2029
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Carabobo will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Player ratings18 Jun 2029
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Jun 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Roberto Murillo
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Carabobo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market11 Jun 2029
Only the photograph left for Franco Maidana
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Franco Maidana will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Carabobo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market11 Jun 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Carabobo can pretend not to have heard.
Squad11 Jun 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Carabobo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match9 Jun 2029
Still nobody has beaten Carabobo
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Franco Ferrari 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.
Player ratings11 Jun 2029
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 19 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Getting past Frankarlos Benítez has become the hardest job in the division
11 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jun 2029
Roberto Murillo damages knee ligaments — 55 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 55 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad4 Jun 2029
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Match30 May 2029
Mineros de Guayana ended it 0‑0. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Match2 Jun 2029
The 86th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and José Riasco decided nobody was going anywhere. Deportivo Tachira had no time left to answer.
Player ratings4 Jun 2029
Defensive actions: 28. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Market4 Jun 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Carabobo can pretend not to have heard.
Squad4 Jun 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Carabobo may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market4 Jun 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Juan Camilo Pérez 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 May 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Roberto Murillo
62 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Carabobo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad28 May 2029
Juan Camilo Pérez 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.
Squad28 May 2029
Words at Carabobo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yohandry Orozco 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.
Squad28 May 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Juan Camilo Pérez, and the manager let it.
Match26 May 2029
Three points for Carabobo, 1‑0 the final word against Metropolitanos in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings28 May 2029
Defensive actions: 16. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings28 May 2029
15 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Player ratings28 May 2029
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings28 May 2029
5.57. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 May 2029
Roberto Murillo damages knee ligaments — 70 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 70 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market21 May 2029
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Match19 May 2029
No end in sight to Carabobo's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Carabobo has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad21 May 2029
The medical room confirms 45 days on the sidelines for Alexander González, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad21 May 2029
Víctor Cabrera 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.
Match19 May 2029
The goals have deserted Carabobo
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Carabobo can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad21 May 2029
The manager makes an example of Franco Ferrari
“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.
Player ratings21 May 2029
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings21 May 2029
16 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 May 2029
Roberto Murillo damages knee ligaments — 77 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 77 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market14 May 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Carabobo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad14 May 2029
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad14 May 2029
Juan Camilo Pérez 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.
Squad14 May 2029
Words at Carabobo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yohandry Orozco 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.
Player ratings14 May 2029
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 20 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Match12 May 2029
Point won or two lost for Carabobo?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Zamora? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Player ratings14 May 2029
The one thing José Riasco could not do
Shots: 13, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Player ratings14 May 2029
A mark of 5.66 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 May 2029
Roberto Murillo damages knee ligaments — 84 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 84 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad7 May 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Carabobo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 May 2029
Yohandry Orozco 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.
Squad7 May 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maurice Cova, and the manager let it.
Match5 May 2029
0‑2 to Llaneros, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom7 May 2029
Carabobo release $1.4M for the manager
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
Market7 May 2029
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Carabobo has been clear about where Loureins Martínez stands, which is more than many ever get.
Player ratings7 May 2029
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The terraces7 May 2029
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Apr 2029
Roberto Murillo damages knee ligaments — 91 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 91 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market30 Apr 2029
“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 Carabobo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market30 Apr 2029
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Juan Camilo Pérez 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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
The manager makes an example of Víctor Cabrera
“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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words at Carabobo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexander González 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Mar 2029
Juan Camilo Pérez damages knee ligaments — 66 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 66 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad12 Mar 2029
A fracture rules Roberto Murillo out for 21 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Carabobo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match10 Mar 2029
Still nobody has beaten Carabobo
The unbeaten run reaches 12. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad12 Mar 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Carabobo may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad12 Mar 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Carabobo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match10 Mar 2029
A 1‑1 draw with Zulia leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The terraces12 Mar 2029
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
4.72 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
Nobody could get near Dimas Meza
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
In brief
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Boardroom
The Carabobo production line keeps running
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Boardroom
The Carabobo board choose calm
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Mar 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Juan Camilo Pérez
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Carabobo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match3 Mar 2029
Whatever happens, Carabobo do not lose
11 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Market5 Mar 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad5 Mar 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Juan Camilo Pérez commits to Carabobo for another 3 years.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Juan Camilo Pérez 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.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 19 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
$1.4M on the table at Carabobo
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Feb 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Juan Camilo Pérez
81 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Carabobo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad26 Feb 2029
3 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Match21 Feb 2029
Carabobo march on in the cup
Portuguesa are out and Carabobo go through, 1‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad26 Feb 2029
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Match24 Feb 2029
Whatever happens, Carabobo do not lose
10 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Market26 Feb 2029
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Ezequiel Neira wants continental football; whether Carabobo can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
A performance of 9.37 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match24 Feb 2029
A 3‑1 win over Estudiantes de Merida, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Feb 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Juan Camilo Pérez
90 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Carabobo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad19 Feb 2029
A fracture rules Roberto Murillo out for 44 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Carabobo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market19 Feb 2029
Franco Maidana has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Carabobo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match17 Feb 2029
Whatever happens, Carabobo do not lose
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Juan Camilo Pérez 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.
Player ratings19 Feb 2029
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Words at Carabobo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yohandry Orozco 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.
Player ratings19 Feb 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.16, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match17 Feb 2029
It needed José Riasco to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Deportivo Tachira, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Feb 2029
Juan Camilo Pérez damages knee ligaments — 98 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 98 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad12 Feb 2029
A fracture rules Roberto Murillo out for 51 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Carabobo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market12 Feb 2029
Only the photograph left for Kevin Ojeda
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kevin Ojeda will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Carabobo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match10 Feb 2029
Whatever happens, Carabobo do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Víctor Cabrera 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.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Yohandry Orozco 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.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
Marked 7.76 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Carabobo had the best player on the pitch.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
Match10 Feb 2029
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad5 Feb 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Juan Camilo Pérez
106 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Carabobo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 59 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match3 Feb 2029
Nobody wants to play Carabobo right now
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Market5 Feb 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Carabobo can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings5 Feb 2029
Maurice Cova, 36, rolls back the years — 7.81
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.81 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad5 Feb 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Julio Coria and Carabobo agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Yohandry Orozco 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.
Player ratings5 Feb 2029
Ezequiel Neira was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.29. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Match3 Feb 2029
Trujillanos made Carabobo work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
Two goals and a mark of 8.78 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market22 Jan 2029
Franco Maidana has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Carabobo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match20 Jan 2029
Nobody wants to play Carabobo right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Boardroom22 Jan 2029
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.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Juan Camilo Pérez 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.
Boardroom22 Jan 2029
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Carabobo
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.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words at Carabobo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yohandry Orozco 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.
Match20 Jan 2029
It finished 2‑0, and it was José Riasco’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Carabobo.
Squad22 Jan 2029
“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.