Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 130 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
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 Mateo Ostachi is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jonathan Cañete signs something — a contract at Portuguesa or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Óscar González was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It finished 2‑0, and it was Edixon Mena’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Portuguesa.
Player ratings23 Apr 2029
Jonathan Cañete was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.06. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” David Herrera on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
Somebody else is better right now than Joel Cáceres
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
In brief
The dugoutEdwin Peraza knocks on the manager’s door
“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 The request is on a desk at Portuguesa, and it is not being withdrawn.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Robert Mendoza has agreed terms with Deportivo La Guaira for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Jonathan Cañete 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Óscar González was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Portuguesa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Portuguesa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Portuguesa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Jonathan Cañete 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Óscar González was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Portuguesa has been clear about where Edwin Peraza stands, which is more than many ever get.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 66 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Atletico Venezuela for Robert Mendoza 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.
Jonathan Cañete 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lautaro Lovazzano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Portuguesa asked and River Plate said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nobody at Portuguesa 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Edwin Peraza trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Portuguesa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The deal that would have taken Moisés Acuña to Caracas has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Portuguesa with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Jonathan Cañete 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.
Portuguesa asked and Mineros de Guayana said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Óscar González was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Portuguesa 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Portuguesa can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Elías Torres was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Braga have kept their man, and Portuguesa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Portuguesa have made the call to Rosario Central. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Elías Torres 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Portuguesa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lautaro Lovazzano 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Portuguesa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Jonathan Cañete 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Elías Torres 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jonathan Cañete trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Portuguesa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Portuguesa can pretend not to have heard.
Elías Torres 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 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.
53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Portuguesa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Portuguesa can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Portuguesa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Elías Torres was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
69 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Portuguesa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Portuguesa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Elías Torres and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words at Portuguesa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lautaro Lovazzano 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.
Successful dribbles: 34. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.82 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Portuguesa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lautaro Lovazzano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Portuguesa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Luis Guerra will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Portuguesa escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Two goals and a mark of 8.15 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Portuguesa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Kevin Coronel 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 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
Player ratingsWilfredo Peña beats them one at a time
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Portuguesa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Portuguesa can pretend not to have heard.
4 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lautaro Lovazzano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Johan Moreno 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Miguel Cordova after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Joel Cáceres
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Portuguesa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Portuguesa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
1‑2 to Zamora, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Portuguesa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Keiver Zúñiga 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Miguel Cordova after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
In brief
The dugoutJonathan Cañete has become a man the manager trusts
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Portuguesa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Portuguesa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Keiver Zúñiga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Jorge Graterol is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
47 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Portuguesa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Kevin Coronel 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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Portuguesa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lautaro Lovazzano 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
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.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Aaron Icaza
54 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Portuguesa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Portuguesa, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.02 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Lautaro Lovazzano 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.
At 23 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.
Defensive actions: 20, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Keiver Zúñiga 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.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
Kevin Coronel was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
61 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Portuguesa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ridenson Morillo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Portuguesa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Kevin Coronel and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Portuguesa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lautaro Lovazzano 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.
68 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Portuguesa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Portuguesa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“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 dugout3 Apr 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Miguel Cordova left the room before anybody could ask which.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Portuguesa has been clear about where Néstor Trejo stands, which is more than many ever get.
The words a physio says slowly. 75 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Lautaro Lovazzano 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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Keiver Zúñiga 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Miguel Cordova to a room that had heard them before.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Portuguesa, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutRubén Rojas has become a man the manager trusts
83 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Portuguesa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Portuguesa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Lautaro Lovazzano scored in the 86th minute, Aragua had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Portuguesa took the lot.
10 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Aragua were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Kevin Coronel 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lautaro Lovazzano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
90 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Portuguesa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Portuguesa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.33 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Portuguesa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Kevin Coronel and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Portuguesa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lautaro Lovazzano 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.
97 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Portuguesa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Portuguesa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.22 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Portuguesa can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Portuguesa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Portuguesa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Portuguesa have gone to Mineros de Guayana with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Portuguesa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Óscar González 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Portuguesa, and 9 appearances in 50 say he has earned the hearing.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Edwin Peraza trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Portuguesa 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Portuguesa can pretend not to have heard.
Jonathan Cañete 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 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Santos have kept their man, and Portuguesa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Keiver Zúñiga has his answer from Portuguesa; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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 Bruno Centeno is on it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Portuguesa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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 Bruno Centeno is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Portuguesa, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Portuguesa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Jonathan Cañete 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Portuguesa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lautaro Lovazzano 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.
“Every summer it is another club, another set of team-mates, another manager to convince. I have done all that. Now I want a pre-season at Portuguesa and a proper look at me.” He remains Zulia’s player until the spell runs out — but the argument is with the club that owns him.
Nobody at Portuguesa 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.