Marked for Alejandro Ramirez
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market6 Dec 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Zamora, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad6 Dec 2027
A falling-out at Zamora
Erickson Gallardo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Dec 2027
A row about effort at Zamora
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carlos Lujano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets6 Dec 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Godoy Cruz have kept their man, and Zamora go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sergio Sulbarán, and the manager let it.
Squad6 Dec 2027
24 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad6 Dec 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Beycker Velásquez and Zamora agree another 2 years.
Transfer targets6 Dec 2027
Zamora have made the call to Defensores. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets6 Dec 2027
Zamora have made the call to Banfield. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Nov 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Kevin Armesto
44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Zamora lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Tempers go at Zamora
Benjamín González 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Zamora training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Lujano 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
The medical room confirms 55 days on the sidelines for Alejandro Ramirez, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Boardroom8 Nov 2027
Zamora release $2.6M 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.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Apr 2027
There were 7 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.
Match10 Apr 2027
The wait goes on for Zamora
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad12 Apr 2027
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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Alejandro Galván arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Alejandro Galván has, at Zamora, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Zamora
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carlos Lujano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market12 Apr 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Francisco Gonzalez 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.
Market12 Apr 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Alejandro Ramirez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Anthonys Matos
“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.