Marked for Sergio Murillo
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Apr 2030
0‑3 to Deportivo La Guaira, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match6 Apr 2030
No end in sight to Llaneros's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Llaneros has to find a result from somewhere.
Market8 Apr 2030
Only the photograph left for Sergio Murillo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sergio Murillo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Llaneros the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Christian Gómez 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 Apr 2030
Words at Llaneros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Darwin Otero 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 Apr 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Darwin Otero, and the manager let it.
Boardroom8 Apr 2030
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Player ratings8 Apr 2030
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Mar 2030
Oscar Herrera damages knee ligaments — 16 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 16 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.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 53 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market11 Mar 2030
Only the photograph left for Sergio Murillo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sergio Murillo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Llaneros the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Mateo Arrieta 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.
Match9 Mar 2030
1‑3 to Trujillanos, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Words at Llaneros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Darwin Otero 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
Squad25 Feb 2030
Oscar Herrera 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.
Match23 Feb 2030
Llaneros through in the cup
A 2‑3 win over Caracas, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 67 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings25 Feb 2030
No sign of nerves from Sergio Murillo at 18 — 8.25
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Sergio Murillo did not need any: 8.25, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad25 Feb 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Llaneros may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Christian Gómez 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.
The terraces25 Feb 2030
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Alejandro Casseres 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.
Player ratings25 Feb 2030
Marked 5.29. 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.
Player ratings25 Feb 2030
Marked 5.34. 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
Crisis
Squad11 Feb 2030
A fracture rules David Martinez out for 81 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Llaneros will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match9 Feb 2030
No end in sight to Llaneros's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Llaneros has to find a result from somewhere.
Market11 Feb 2030
“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.
Market11 Feb 2030
Only the photograph left for Sergio Murillo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sergio Murillo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Llaneros the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad11 Feb 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Yeferson Rondon 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.
Match9 Feb 2030
0‑1 to Estudiantes de Caracas, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market11 Feb 2030
Nikollas Sena is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Llaneros has been clear about where Nikollas Sena stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Jan 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market14 Jan 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Llaneros is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad14 Jan 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Jan 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 56 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad7 Jan 2030
A move Mateo Arrieta 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. Mateo Arrieta is living that version at Llaneros, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Christian Gómez 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.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Sergio Arango pulls a muscle — 14 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Market7 Jan 2030
The name of Sergio Murillo has come up in conversations Llaneros were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market7 Jan 2030
He is 20, and nobody at Llaneros signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Dec 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 77 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market17 Dec 2029
Llaneros say no — this time
The offer from Estudiantes de Merida for Sergio Murillo 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.
Squad17 Dec 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 Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Dec 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 84 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Miguel Martinez 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.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Words at Llaneros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yeferson Rondon 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
Market12 Nov 2029
Only the photograph left for Sergio Murillo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sergio Murillo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Llaneros the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Christian Gómez 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 Nov 2029
Words at Llaneros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Darwin Otero 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
Squad15 Oct 2029
A fracture rules Yeferson Rondon out for 30 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Llaneros will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Francisco Machis: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Llaneros have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market15 Oct 2029
Sergio Murillo has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Llaneros they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Sep 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 40 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad17 Sep 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market17 Sep 2029
Sergio Murillo has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Llaneros they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market20 Aug 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.
Market20 Aug 2029
Sergio Murillo has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Llaneros they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Words at Llaneros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Darwin Otero 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
Market23 Jul 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.
Match21 Jul 2029
No end in sight to Llaneros's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Llaneros has to find a result from somewhere.
Market23 Jul 2029
Only the photograph left for Sergio Murillo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sergio Murillo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Llaneros the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Christian Gómez 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.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Words at Llaneros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Darwin Otero 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.
Squad23 Jul 2029
The manager makes an example of Birahim Diousse
“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.
Match21 Jul 2029
It needed Sergio Soteldo to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Zulia, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Nobody at Llaneros 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.
Player ratings23 Jul 2029
Marked 5.73, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces9 Jul 2029
Anger at Llaneros spills outside the ground
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.
Match9 Jul 2029
Every point is an argument now for Llaneros
Position 16 and 12 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market9 Jul 2029
Llaneros say no — this time
The offer from Estudiantes de Merida for Sergio Murillo 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.
Squad9 Jul 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jose Uribe commits to Llaneros for another 2 years.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Words at Llaneros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Darwin Otero 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.
Squad9 Jul 2029
The manager makes an example of Darwin Otero
“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.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Daniel Roca 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
Marked 7.47 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Llaneros had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Jul 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jose Uribe commits to Llaneros for another 2 years.
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
Mineros de Guayana will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Ronald González has pre-agreed a move to Llaneros, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Darwin Otero 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.
Match30 Jun 2029
0‑2 to Deportivo Tachira, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Daniel Roca in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Jose Uribe gets it from the manager
“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.
Market2 Jul 2029
Juan Carlos Ramírez is 19, and Llaneros have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
Intake day at the Llaneros academy
6 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Jun 2029
Darwin Otero 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 Llaneros can pretend not to have heard.
Match23 Jun 2029
Llaneros win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. Metropolitanos will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Player ratings25 Jun 2029
A brace, and Yeferson Rondon takes the afternoon — 7.95
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Yeferson Rondon provided it, and the 7.95 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Miguel Martinez 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.
Match23 Jun 2029
Three points for Llaneros, 2‑1 the final word against Metropolitanos in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces25 Jun 2029
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad25 Jun 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.
Market25 Jun 2029
The name of Sergio Murillo has come up in conversations Llaneros were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Words at Llaneros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Birahim Diousse 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
Match16 Jun 2029
19 matches without a win for Llaneros
The run now stands at 19, and the questions being asked around Llaneros are no longer polite ones.
Market18 Jun 2029
Llaneros say no — this time
The offer from Trujillanos for Sergio Murillo 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.
Match16 Jun 2029
4 matches without a goal for Llaneros
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad18 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 Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jun 2029
A move Noah Núñez 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. Noah Núñez is living that version at Llaneros, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Darwin Otero 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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jesús Chima, and the manager let it.
Market18 Jun 2029
He is 17, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Market18 Jun 2029
Noah Núñez is 19, and Llaneros have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 May 2029
No end in sight to Llaneros's wait for a win
14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Llaneros has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces14 May 2029
The mood at Llaneros has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match14 May 2029
Llaneros are in real trouble now
Position 16, 7 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Player ratings14 May 2029
Two goals and a mark of 8.63 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market14 May 2029
Sergio Murillo has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Llaneros they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad14 May 2029
Darwin Ramirez: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Llaneros have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad14 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 Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 May 2029
Mineros de Guayana left with the points after a 3‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Match12 May 2029
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Llaneros and Mineros de Guayana in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces16 Apr 2029
The mood at Llaneros has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match14 Apr 2029
10 matches without a win for Llaneros
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Llaneros are no longer polite ones.
Match16 Apr 2029
Llaneros sink to position 16
6 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market16 Apr 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Llaneros is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad16 Apr 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 Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings16 Apr 2029
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Darwin Otero 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.
Match14 Apr 2029
The goals have deserted Llaneros
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Llaneros can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad16 Apr 2029
The manager makes an example of Darwin Otero
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces19 Mar 2029
The mood at Llaneros has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match19 Mar 2029
Llaneros are in real trouble now
Position 16, 6 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match17 Mar 2029
6 matches without a win for Llaneros
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Llaneros are no longer polite ones.
Market19 Mar 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Llaneros is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Mar 2029
A muscle injury sidelines Sergio Arango for 16 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Llaneros will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Darwin Otero 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.
Squad19 Mar 2029
The manager makes an example of Darwin Otero
“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.
Match17 Mar 2029
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Oscar Rosales had Llaneros level again within 3 minutes, and Deportivo Tachira never got to play with a lead at all.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces19 Feb 2029
The mood at Llaneros has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market19 Feb 2029
Only the photograph left for Sergio Murillo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sergio Murillo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Llaneros the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad19 Feb 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 Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match17 Feb 2029
0‑2 to Caracas, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad19 Feb 2029
The manager makes an example of Darwin Otero
“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 ratings19 Feb 2029
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Birahim Diousse 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.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Sergio Soteldo has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Llaneros 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.
Player ratings19 Feb 2029
A mark of 5.31 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Jan 2029
30 matches without a win for Llaneros
The run now stands at 30, and the questions being asked around Llaneros are no longer polite ones.
The terraces22 Jan 2029
The mood at Llaneros has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match20 Jan 2029
Chastening afternoon for Llaneros
A 0‑3 beating by Carabobo was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match20 Jan 2029
8 matches without a goal for Llaneros
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 8 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad22 Jan 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Llaneros may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market22 Jan 2029
Sergio Murillo has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Llaneros they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad22 Jan 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 Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom22 Jan 2029
7 academy players handed senior numbers at Llaneros
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
Miguel Martinez 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
Crisis
Market8 Jan 2029
Trujillanos come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Llaneros did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad8 Jan 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 Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 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.
Market8 Jan 2029
A conversation is coming this week. Llaneros will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Darwin Otero knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Darwin Otero trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Lucas da Cruz 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.
In brief
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Market
The window shut and Juan Osorio is still in the building
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Market
The clock does Juan Osorio’s negotiating for him
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Boardroom
Llaneros keep producing them
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces25 Dec 2028
The mood at Llaneros has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match25 Dec 2028
Llaneros are in real trouble now
Position 16, 9 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Boardroom25 Dec 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Llaneros
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Miguel Martinez 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.
Market25 Dec 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Llaneros have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Alexsejs Bukovskis 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
Crisis
Market11 Dec 2028
Llaneros say no — this time
The offer from Trujillanos for Sergio Murillo 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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Miguel Martinez 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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
David Martinez pulls a muscle — 14 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Juan Osorio 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.
Market11 Dec 2028
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Llaneros will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Sergio Soteldo has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Llaneros 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
Crisis
Squad20 Nov 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad20 Nov 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market20 Nov 2028
Sergio Murillo has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Llaneros they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
In brief
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Squad
Tempers go at Llaneros
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Squad
Words at Llaneros training over how hard people work
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Oct 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 52 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market23 Oct 2028
Sergio Murillo has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Llaneros they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Words at Llaneros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Martinez 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
Squad25 Sep 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 80 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad25 Sep 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Llaneros have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market25 Sep 2028
Only the photograph left for Sergio Murillo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sergio Murillo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Llaneros the goodbyes have quietly begun.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Aug 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Llaneros may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market28 Aug 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Llaneros is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad28 Aug 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Aug 2028
29 matches without a win for Llaneros
The run now stands at 29, and the questions being asked around Llaneros are no longer polite ones.
Match12 Aug 2028
Llaneros cannot find the net
7 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad14 Aug 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Llaneros may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad14 Aug 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Darwin Otero 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Jesús Chima gets it from the manager
“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.
Match12 Aug 2028
Portuguesa left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
An afternoon Darwin Otero will want back
Marked 5.38. 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.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Jul 2028
No end in sight to Llaneros's wait for a win
27 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Llaneros has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Daniel Ferraresi damages knee ligaments — 23 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
Match29 Jul 2028
The goals have deserted Llaneros
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Llaneros can tell you which week it ends in.
Market31 Jul 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Llaneros is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Darwin Otero 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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
The manager makes an example of Christian Gómez
“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.
Match29 Jul 2028
Deportivo Lara left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Alexsejs Bukovskis 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 ratings31 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Jul 2028
23 matches without a win for Llaneros
The run now stands at 23, and the questions being asked around Llaneros are no longer polite ones.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Daniel Ferraresi damages knee ligaments — 51 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 51 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.
Match1 Jul 2028
Nowhere to hide for Llaneros
0‑3 against Deportivo Tachira, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match1 Jul 2028
Llaneros leaking at the back
9 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Market3 Jul 2028
“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.
Market3 Jul 2028
Llaneros say no — this time
The offer from Mineros de Guayana for Andres Martinez 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.
Squad3 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Jul 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Junior Murillo and Llaneros agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Darwin Otero 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
Match24 Jun 2028
22 matches without a win for Llaneros
The run now stands at 22, and the questions being asked around Llaneros are no longer polite ones.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Daniel Ferraresi damages knee ligaments — 58 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 58 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.
Match24 Jun 2028
Ricardo Hernández Marchesano had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Metropolitanos were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Match24 Jun 2028
No clean sheets in sight for Llaneros
8 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Market26 Jun 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Llaneros can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings26 Jun 2028
A goal and an assist for Yeferson Rondon — 7.69
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.69 beside his name.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Christian Gómez 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Llaneros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Darwin Otero 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oscar Rosales, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Jun 2028
20 matches without a win for Llaneros
The run now stands at 20, and the questions being asked around Llaneros are no longer polite ones.
The terraces12 Jun 2028
Anger at Llaneros spills outside the ground
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.
Market12 Jun 2028
$630.0K is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Daniel Ferraresi 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.
Match12 Jun 2028
Every point is an argument now for Llaneros
Position 16 and 5 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The terraces12 Jun 2028
Llaneros sell a favourite for $630.0K
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Julio Da Silva was one of the reasons people came, and $630.0K does not replace that by itself.
Market12 Jun 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match10 Jun 2028
Llaneros leaking at the back
6 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Miguel Martinez 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
Crisis
Match3 Jun 2028
19 matches without a win for Llaneros
The run now stands at 19, and the questions being asked around Llaneros are no longer polite ones.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Daniel Ferraresi damages knee ligaments — 79 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 79 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.
Match3 Jun 2028
Nowhere to hide for Llaneros
0‑3 against Caracas, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market5 Jun 2028
“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 Llaneros, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match3 Jun 2028
Llaneros leaking at the back
5 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Market5 Jun 2028
Everyone has stopped pretending: Caracas will make the call about Julio Da Silva this week. Llaneros have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Match3 Jun 2028
3 matches without a goal for Llaneros
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Miguel Martinez 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.
Market5 Jun 2028
The phone has started ringing about Sergio Murillo again, and this time the name on the line is Aragua. Llaneros are listening politely and promising nothing.