Willimger Castillo

Central Midfielder - Deportivo Lara
18 Sep 2027
Saturday
Process

Marked for Willimger Castillo

55 Edition

The Deportivo Lara Herald

16 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Luis Annese: 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.” Deportivo Lara have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Tempers go at Deportivo Lara

Ronaldo Peña 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.

Match

Williams Pedrozo sends Deportivo Lara past Trujillanos

It finished 2‑1, and it was Williams Pedrozo’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Deportivo Lara.

Player ratings

One of those days for Willimger Castillo

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.97, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Player ratings

Williams Pedrozo in the eights

A performance of 8.91 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Squad

Alexander Rondón Oliveros 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.

In brief

Back issues
45 Edition

The Deportivo Lara Herald

7 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Carlos Murillo has until the next board meeting

What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Deportivo Lara can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.

Match

The small margins put Deportivo Lara out

Out, 0‑1 to Mineros de Guayana, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.

Squad

Tempers go at Deportivo Lara

Ronaldo Peña 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.

Match

Deportivo Lara find a way past Zulia

Zulia made Deportivo Lara work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Player ratings

One of those days for Willimger Castillo

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.95, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Squad

No hiding place for Luis Annese

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luis Annese, and the manager let it.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Ronaldo Lucena

Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Jacobo Kouffati knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Deportivo Lara, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Squad

Henry Pernía suspended

One booking too many, and Henry Pernía sits out. Deportivo Lara lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.

In brief

43 Edition

The Deportivo Lara Herald

24 May 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to Deportivo Lara's wait for a win

12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Deportivo Lara has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

Tempers go at Deportivo Lara

Henry Pernía 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.

Match

Estudiantes de Merida take the points off Deportivo Lara

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

In brief

38 Edition

The Deportivo Lara Herald

19 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

Every point is an argument now for Deportivo Lara

Position 16 and 9 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.

Match

The wait goes on for Deportivo Lara

7 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Deportivo Lara

Ronaldo Peña 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 ratings

A masterclass from Ronaldo Lucena

Marked 8.85 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Willimger Castillo

Marked 8.07 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Julio Da Silva

“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.

Match

Deportivo Lara and Llaneros take a point apiece

It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

Squad

Ronaldo Lucena 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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Jacobo Kouffati

Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

In brief

37 Edition

The Deportivo Lara Herald

12 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Franco Carretero

There were 9 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.

Match

The wait goes on for Deportivo Lara

6 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.

Squad

Daniel Rivillo signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daniel Rivillo and Deportivo Lara agree another 2 years.

In brief

36 Edition

The Deportivo Lara Herald

5 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Franco Carretero hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Deportivo Lara can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Franco Carretero keeps Deportivo Lara in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Match

The wait goes on for Deportivo Lara

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Deportivo Lara

Henry Pernía 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 ratings

A masterclass from Ronaldo Lucena

Marked 8.88 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

Squad

No hiding place for Luis Annese

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luis Annese, and the manager let it.

In brief

35 Edition

The Deportivo Lara Herald

29 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The wait goes on for Deportivo Lara

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.

Match

Deportivo Lara come up short against Mineros de Guayana

Mineros de Guayana left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad

Willimger Castillo 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 Deportivo Lara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Néstor Cova 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 ratings

Ronaldo Lucena runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Player ratings

A day to forget for Luis Annese

Marked 5.70, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.

In brief

26 Edition

The Deportivo Lara Herald

25 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Franco Carretero asks to leave Deportivo Lara

“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.

Match

The wait goes on for Deportivo Lara

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.

Market

As if he never left: Fernando Rosales returns

Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Fernando Rosales is a Deportivo Lara player again, and the town has its story of the summer.

Market

Salomon Arango is a Deportivo Lara player again

He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.

Market

As if he never left: Juan Arango returns

Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Juan Arango is a Deportivo Lara player again, and the town has its story of the summer.

Squad

Tempers go at Deportivo Lara

Ronaldo Peña 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.

Match

Deportivo Lara come up short against Metropolitanos

Metropolitanos left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad

No hiding place for Francisco Flores

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Francisco Flores, and the manager let it.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Willimger Castillo

Marked 8.04 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

In brief