Marked for Junior Castillo
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Nov 2035
A fracture rules Johan Hurtado out for 74 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mineros de Guayana will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market26 Nov 2035
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Anderson Domínguez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mineros de Guayana the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad26 Nov 2035
Luiyi Rincón 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.
The dugout26 Nov 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rafael Ramirez, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Nov 2035
Johan Hurtado 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 Johan Hurtado trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout26 Nov 2035
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Oct 2035
102 days out for Johan Hurtado after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Mineros de Guayana will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market29 Oct 2035
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mineros de Guayana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad29 Oct 2035
Christian Maldonado 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Sep 2035
Time is catching up with Tomás Zamora
Everybody at Mineros de Guayana saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Squad10 Sep 2035
16 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad10 Sep 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mineros de Guayana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Sep 2035
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout10 Sep 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Elías Rodas, and the manager let it.
The dugout10 Sep 2035
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market10 Sep 2035
3 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Mineros de Guayana could get for him.
The dugout10 Sep 2035
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The dugout10 Sep 2035
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings14 May 2035
A brace, and Miguel Gonzalez takes the afternoon — 8.05
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Miguel Gonzalez provided it, and the 8.05 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings14 May 2035
What a way to start for Junior Castillo — 7.27
0 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.27 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
Player ratings14 May 2035
No sign of nerves from Sergio Moreno at 21 — 8.28
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Sergio Moreno did not need any: 8.28, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market14 May 2035
“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.
Market14 May 2035
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Santiago Martinez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mineros de Guayana the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad14 May 2035
Rodrigo Gallo 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.
Squad14 May 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan David Mestizo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces14 May 2035
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.