Marked for Williams Guzmán
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market30 Nov 2026
Only the photograph left for Ariel Muñoz
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ariel Muñoz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Alianza Atletico the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anthony Gordillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Juan Quiñónez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“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.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Anthony Gordillo is on it.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market23 Nov 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Alianza Atletico they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A muscle injury sidelines José Villegas for 16 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Alianza Atletico will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ariel Muñoz, and the manager let it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alianza Atletico this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Cristian Penilla has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Alianza Atletico 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Alianza Atletico training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Román Suárez 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
Upbeat
Market12 Oct 2026
“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.
Market12 Oct 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Alianza Atletico is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom12 Oct 2026
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Jesús Mendieta has agreed terms with Universitario for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jesús Rossi is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad12 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alianza Atletico this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jimmy Pérez, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Ariel Muñoz gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ariel Muñoz is on it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Román Suárez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Williams Guzmán asks for a word with the manager
“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
Market5 Oct 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Alianza Atletico is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Anthony Gordillo 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Guillermo Larios and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Jesús Mendieta
“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.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Anthony Gordillo has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Alianza Atletico 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I will play as long as the body lets me and stop the day it does not.” He is 34, with 263 appearances behind him, and the club has to plan for a decision that is not yet made.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match19 Aug 2026
Universitario are out and Alianza Atletico go through, 2‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.89, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market24 Aug 2026
Astra come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Alianza Atletico did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 21, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Anthony Gordillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Gabriel Valera could afford to be generous.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Jesús Rossi 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 Alianza Atletico this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.