Marked for Alejandro Murillo
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Sep 2040
A knee injury of the worst kind for Richard Rincon
117 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Llaneros lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad24 Sep 2040
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Llaneros may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad24 Sep 2040
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Sep 2040
A knee injury of the worst kind for Richard Rincon
124 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Llaneros lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market17 Sep 2040
“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.
Squad17 Sep 2040
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 22 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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
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Boardroom
The Llaneros production line keeps running
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Sep 2040
Richard Rincon damages knee ligaments — 132 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 132 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.
The terraces10 Sep 2040
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.
Squad10 Sep 2040
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Sep 2040
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.
Squad3 Sep 2040
Julián Pou 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.
Squad3 Sep 2040
Martín García 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
Uneasy
Squad27 Aug 2040
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.
Squad27 Aug 2040
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 47 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad27 Aug 2040
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.
In brief
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Squad
Julián Pou falls out with a teammate over standards
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Aug 2040
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Squad20 Aug 2040
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market20 Aug 2040
“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.
In brief
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Squad
Tempers go at Llaneros
-
Squad
Words at Llaneros training over how hard people work
-
Boardroom
The Llaneros production line keeps running
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces13 Aug 2040
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.
Squad13 Aug 2040
The words a physio says slowly. 29 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.
Squad13 Aug 2040
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.
Match11 Aug 2040
7 matches without a win for Llaneros
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Llaneros are no longer polite ones.
Squad13 Aug 2040
Julián Pou 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.
Match11 Aug 2040
Portuguesa left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Aug 2040
The words a physio says slowly. 36 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.
Squad6 Aug 2040
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.
Match4 Aug 2040
No end in sight to Llaneros's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Llaneros has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad6 Aug 2040
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Darwin Rincon and Llaneros agree another 2 years.
Squad6 Aug 2040
Julián Pou 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.
Match4 Aug 2040
A bad afternoon for Llaneros against Aragua
0‑1 to Aragua, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Jul 2040
44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Llaneros lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad30 Jul 2040
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.
Match28 Jul 2040
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.
Squad30 Jul 2040
Fabrisio Mesías 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 Jul 2040
Words at Llaneros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julián Pou 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.
The terraces30 Jul 2040
At 22 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Jul 2040
51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Llaneros lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad23 Jul 2040
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.
Market23 Jul 2040
“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.
Market23 Jul 2040
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Carabobo moved on, Evidence Williams reports back to Llaneros, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad23 Jul 2040
Salomon Cordova: 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.
Squad23 Jul 2040
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Match21 Jul 2040
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.
Player ratings23 Jul 2040
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match21 Jul 2040
It needed Santiago Perez to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Zulia, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces16 Jul 2040
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.
Squad16 Jul 2040
58 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Llaneros lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad16 Jul 2040
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.
Player ratings16 Jul 2040
No sign of nerves from Rafael Ramirez at 18 — 7.72
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Rafael Ramirez did not need any: 7.72, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad16 Jul 2040
Santiago Castro 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.
Squad16 Jul 2040
Words at Llaneros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julián Pou 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.
Match14 Jul 2040
1‑2 to Deportivo La Guaira, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market16 Jul 2040
Cristian Rosales is 20, 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.
Player ratings16 Jul 2040
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Jul 2040
67 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Llaneros lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad9 Jul 2040
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.
Squad9 Jul 2040
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.
Squad9 Jul 2040
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 ratings9 Jul 2040
Santiago Perez ran the middle of the pitch — 6.60
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 6.60, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Player ratings9 Jul 2040
Marked 7.63. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Jul 2040
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Llaneros lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad2 Jul 2040
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.
Market2 Jul 2040
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.
Squad2 Jul 2040
Julián Pou 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.
Squad2 Jul 2040
16 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Boardroom2 Jul 2040
Llaneros sign 6 boys into the academy
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Match30 Jun 2040
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Deportivo Tachira will be the happier side with the point.
Market2 Jul 2040
Carlos Rosales 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 Carlos Rosales stands, which is more than many ever get.
Player ratings2 Jul 2040
Successful dribbles: 8. 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
Uneasy
Squad25 Jun 2040
The words a physio says slowly. 82 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 2040
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 111 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad25 Jun 2040
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.
Market25 Jun 2040
“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.
Match23 Jun 2040
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Santiago Perez. 3‑1 against Metropolitanos, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings25 Jun 2040
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.25, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad25 Jun 2040
Julián Pou 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.
The terraces25 Jun 2040
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Santiago Perez 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 Jun 2040
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces18 Jun 2040
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.
Squad18 Jun 2040
The words a physio says slowly. 89 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.
Match16 Jun 2040
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.
Squad18 Jun 2040
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 118 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad18 Jun 2040
Words at Llaneros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julián Pou 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.
Squad18 Jun 2040
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.
Match16 Jun 2040
0‑1 to Trujillanos, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market18 Jun 2040
Everyone has stopped pretending: Zulia will make the call about Evidence Williams this week. Llaneros have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Player ratings18 Jun 2040
Successful dribbles: 8. 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
Uneasy
Squad11 Jun 2040
The words a physio says slowly. 96 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 Jun 2040
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 125 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match9 Jun 2040
The wait goes on for Llaneros
9 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.
Market11 Jun 2040
“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.
Squad11 Jun 2040
“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.
Squad11 Jun 2040
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.
Match9 Jun 2040
It needed Santiago Perez to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Zamora, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings11 Jun 2040
Off the bench and decisive: Junior Machis
The substitution nobody applauded turned out to be the whole story. Llaneros were going nowhere until he came on.
Market11 Jun 2040
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Richard Savarino leaves Llaneros the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Jun 2040
The words a physio says slowly. 103 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 2040
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.
Match2 Jun 2040
8 matches without a win for Llaneros
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Llaneros are no longer polite ones.
Market4 Jun 2040
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.
Market4 Jun 2040
“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.
Squad4 Jun 2040
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Julián Pou commits to Llaneros for another 2 years.
Squad4 Jun 2040
Jose Savarino 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.
Match2 Jun 2040
A 1‑1 draw with Caracas leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings4 Jun 2040
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.