Marked for Santiago Ormeño
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Aug 2027
Christian Ortiz 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 Aug 2027
“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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market19 Jul 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Juan Aurich, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market19 Jul 2027
The fee is $230.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Cesar Vallejo drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad19 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juan Aurich this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings5 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Juan Morales commits to Juan Aurich for another 1 years.
Squad5 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juan Aurich this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Jun 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Juan Aurich may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
Andy Polar runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juan Aurich this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.66, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.40, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Jun 2027
He is 21, he is averaging 7.16, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Christian Ortiz 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 ratings14 Jun 2027
A performance of 8.70 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
A performance of 8.65 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
A performance of 8.02 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Market14 Jun 2027
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Squad14 Jun 2027
“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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 May 2027
Christian Ortiz 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 May 2027
One of those days for Ian Wisdom
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.
Squad31 May 2027
“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.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Nobody could get near Andy Polar
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Defensive actions: 16, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Nobody could get near Andy Polar
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Defensive actions: 25. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Christian Ortiz 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 ratings12 Apr 2027
A performance of 8.45 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad12 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Robert Alarcón
“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
Squad29 Mar 2027
Christian Ortiz 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.
Match27 Mar 2027
Sporting Cristal left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad29 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Santiago Ormeño
“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
Steady
Match22 Mar 2027
5 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.31, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Bryan Ormeño 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.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Andy Polar runs at them all day
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.
Match20 Mar 2027
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad22 Mar 2027
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Juan Aurich have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match27 Feb 2027
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 Mar 2027
Christian Ortiz 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 ratings1 Mar 2027
Nobody could get near Andy Polar
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Christian Ortiz, and the manager let it.
Match27 Feb 2027
A bad afternoon for Juan Aurich against UTC
0‑1 to UTC, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
5.69 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Feb 2027
Christian Ortiz 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.
Match13 Feb 2027
Universitario left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Santiago Ormeño
“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 ratings15 Feb 2027
Ian Wisdom runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Shots: 7, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
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
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Wages eat 114% of everything Juan Aurich earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The captaincy has been taken off Bryan Rivas. Juan Aurich will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The captaincy goes to Christian Ortiz. It is not a job that wins matches, but a dressing room always notices who is given it.