Marked for Junior Rincon
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Oct 2035
“The easiest signature of my career.” Javier Márquez and Estudiantes de Merida agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Oct 2035
Cristian Caicedo 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 Oct 2035
Words at Estudiantes de Merida training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristhián Rivas 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Jun 2034
Junior Rincon damages knee ligaments — 15 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
Squad19 Jun 2034
Cristhián Rivas 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.
Match17 Jun 2034
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Estudiantes de Merida can tell you which week it ends in.
Player ratings19 Jun 2034
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.
Match17 Jun 2034
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad19 Jun 2034
Words at Estudiantes de Merida training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Eron 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
Steady
Squad12 Jun 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Junior Rincon
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Estudiantes de Merida lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad12 Jun 2034
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Estudiantes de Merida may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad12 Jun 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Estudiantes de Merida this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jun 2034
Cristhián Rivas 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 Jun 2034
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match10 Jun 2034
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Carabobo came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Jun 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Junior Rincon
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Estudiantes de Merida lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad5 Jun 2034
Cristian Caicedo 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
Upbeat
Squad29 May 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Junior Rincon
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Estudiantes de Merida lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces29 May 2034
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad29 May 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Estudiantes de Merida this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match27 May 2034
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ángel Flores. 1‑0 against Aragua, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad29 May 2034
Eron 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 ratings29 May 2034
Ninety minutes of Ángel Flores at his very best
Marked 8.14. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Estudiantes de Merida.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 May 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Junior Rincon
44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Estudiantes de Merida lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad22 May 2034
Cristian Caicedo 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.
Squad22 May 2034
Words at Estudiantes de Merida training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristhián Rivas 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
Steady
Squad15 May 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Junior Rincon
51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Estudiantes de Merida lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match13 May 2034
Zulia will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Estudiantes de Merida were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad15 May 2034
Ángel Flores takes the match ball home
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings15 May 2034
Age has not caught Eron yet — 8.15
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.15 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad15 May 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Estudiantes de Merida this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 May 2034
Cristhián Rivas 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
Uneasy
Squad8 May 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Junior Rincon
58 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Estudiantes de Merida lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad8 May 2034
424 appearances across 18 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Estudiantes de Merida know what they have.
Squad8 May 2034
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Estudiantes de Merida may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 May 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Junior Rincon
65 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Estudiantes de Merida lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces1 May 2034
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad1 May 2034
424 appearances across 18 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Match29 Apr 2034
5 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.
Squad1 May 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Estudiantes de Merida this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 May 2034
Words at Estudiantes de Merida training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristopher Rodríguez 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
Crisis
Squad24 Apr 2034
Junior Rincon damages knee ligaments — 72 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 72 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.
Match22 Apr 2034
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Estudiantes de Merida are no longer polite ones.
Squad24 Apr 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Estudiantes de Merida this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Apr 2034
Cristhián Rivas 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.
Match22 Apr 2034
1‑3 to Deportivo Tachira, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad24 Apr 2034
“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.