20 Jul 2033
Wednesday
Process
364 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

18 Jul 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Anger at Aragua 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.

Match

No end in sight to Aragua's wait for a win

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

Squad

Edwards Pereira 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Aragua

Javier Villafraz 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.

Squad

31 clean sheets for Alejandro Gutiérrez

A goalkeeper's career is counted in the games nobody scored in, and Alejandro Gutiérrez now has 31 of them across 199 appearances. Nothing about that number was luck.

Squad

Appearance number 100 for Andres Cordova

100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.

Looking ahead

Everything rides on Estudiantes de Caracas

Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Aragua know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.

The dugout

No place for Victor Guerrero on the big day

He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Aragua pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Grey Montiel

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

In brief

Back issues
363 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

11 Jul 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Aragua are in real trouble now

Position 15, 15 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

The dugout

Richard Casseres keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Aragua may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Match

4 matches without a win for Aragua

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Aragua are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aragua

Ronaldo Royero 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Aragua

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edwards Pereira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Aragua are shipping goals every week

Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.

Match

A bad afternoon for Aragua against Carabobo

0‑2 to Carabobo, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

Jose Otero signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jose Otero and Aragua agree another 3 years.

The dugout

Interim Coach faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

In brief

362 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

4 Jul 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Aragua

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Boardroom

Interim Coach has until the next board meeting

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

Squad

Ronny Maza signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ronny Maza commits to Aragua for another 2 years.

Squad

Ronaldo Royero 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.

Match

Aragua come up short against Portuguesa

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

Squad

Words exchanged at Aragua

Adrián Briceño 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 dugout

Victor Guerrero 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

Nobody could get near Grey Montiel

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

The dugout

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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.

In brief

361 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

27 Jun 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Aragua taken apart

0‑4 to Caracas, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.

Market

Only the photograph left for Ronaldo Royero

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ronaldo Royero will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Aragua the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Victor Guerrero stands alone

7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Transfer targets

Fee done, terms next for Leonel Moreno

Aragua and Portuguesa have settled on $86.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.

Squad

Tempers go at Aragua

Alejandro Gutiérrez 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.

Squad

Edwards Pereira 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Juan Briceño

“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.

Squad

A muscle injury sidelines Yonner Borges for 16 days

Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Aragua will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.

Boardroom

Nobody left the Aragua dressing room in a hurry

The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.

In brief

360 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

20 Jun 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Aragua board

A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.

Market

Ronaldo Royero puts it in writing

“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 Aragua, and it is not being withdrawn.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Yhonatann Yustiz

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Aragua have done the hard part with Portuguesa, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Squad

A falling-out at Aragua

Ronaldo Royero and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Aragua

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edwards Pereira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Deportivo Lara take the points off Aragua

Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

Interim Coach answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

The dugout

No hiding place for Santiago Utrera

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

Player ratings

Adrián Briceño runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

In brief

359 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

13 Jun 2033
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Terms done: Ronaldo Royero is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Deportivo La Guaira waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Aragua is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

Match

Aragua are in real trouble now

Position 15, 15 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Transfer targets

Ítalo Sulbarán due for a Aragua medical

Everything agreed with Zulia, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Squad

A falling-out at Aragua

Alejandro Gutiérrez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

Marcos Arias runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

A row about effort at Aragua

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ronaldo Royero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Aragua get the job done against Zulia

A 1‑0 win over Zulia, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings

Nobody on the pitch touched Miguel Rosales

7.94, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Aragua had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Interim Coach kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.

In brief

358 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

6 Jun 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Chastening afternoon for Aragua

A 0‑3 beating by Deportivo La Guaira was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Aragua

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Alejandro Gutiérrez

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.

Market

Ronaldo Royero attracts admirers

The name of Ronaldo Royero has come up in conversations Aragua were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Match

The wait goes on for Aragua

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.

Squad

Alejandro Gutiérrez 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 Aragua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Aragua

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edwards Pereira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

No hiding place for Victor Guerrero

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

Squad

José López signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” José López commits to Aragua for another 3 years.

In brief

  • Looking ahead A six-pointer for Aragua
  • Boardroom Nobody left the Aragua dressing room in a hurry
  • The dugout Interim Coach: “No excuses”
357 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

30 May 2033
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The dugout

Santiago Utrera says Aragua went back on their word

“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.

Squad

Ronaldo Royero 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 Aragua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Aragua

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edwards Pereira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Aragua keep their word to Juan Briceño

Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.

The dugout

Alejandro Gutiérrez has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Aragua 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.

The dugout

Interim Coach on the point

“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.

Match

Aragua and Estudiantes de Merida cancel each other out

Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Estudiantes de Merida came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.

Looking ahead

A reunion for Víctor Rivero

He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Deportivo La Guaira in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.

Player ratings

Grey Montiel runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 11. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

In brief

356 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

23 May 2033
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Aragua board

A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.

Market

Ronaldo Royero asks to leave Aragua

“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.

Squad

Alejandro Gutiérrez keeps Aragua in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aragua

Alejandro Gutiérrez 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.

Squad

Ronaldo Royero 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 ratings

Marcos Arias 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.

Match

Aragua and Deportivo Tachira 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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of José López

“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 dugout

Interim Coach: “We have to be better”

“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.

In brief

355 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

16 May 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Alejandro Gutiérrez stands alone

10 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Match

Aragua sink to position 15

10 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Match

A bad afternoon for Aragua against Metropolitanos

1‑3 to Metropolitanos, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

Edwards Pereira 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Aragua

Adrián Briceño 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 dugout

Tadeo Schettino 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

Grey Montiel was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 18. 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.

Squad

Jose Casseres signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jose Casseres commits to Aragua for another 3 years.

The dugout

Interim Coach answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

In brief

354 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

9 May 2033
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Alejandro Gutiérrez keeps Aragua 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 drought breaks for Aragua

9 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Trujillanos were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.

Squad

Tempers go at Aragua

Ronaldo Royero 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Aragua

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edwards Pereira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Miguel Rosales the difference as Aragua beat Trujillanos

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Miguel Rosales. 1‑0 against Trujillanos, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Victor Guerrero

“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 ratings

Grey Montiel 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.

Squad

Russo signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Russo commits to Aragua for another 3 years.

The dugout

A satisfied Interim Coach

“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Interim Coach could afford to be generous.

In brief

353 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

2 May 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to Aragua's wait for a win

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

Match

Aragua cannot find the net

9 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.

Squad

Tempers go at Aragua

Alejandro Gutiérrez 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.

Squad

Ronaldo Royero 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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Aragua against Zamora

0‑2 to Zamora, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Alejandro Gutiérrez

“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

The half-term report on Aragua

Position 16, 7 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.

The dugout

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 0‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.

Squad

Andres Cordova makes the team of the month

Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.

In brief

352 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

25 Apr 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Aragua board

A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.

Market

Ronaldo Royero 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 Aragua can pretend not to have heard.

Match

No end in sight to Aragua's wait for a win

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

Squad

Alejandro Gutiérrez keeps Aragua 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

Aragua cannot find the net

8 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aragua

Alejandro Gutiérrez 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Aragua

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edwards Pereira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Aragua come up short against Llaneros

Llaneros left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Player ratings

Grey Montiel beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

In brief

351 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

18 Apr 2033
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

Every point is an argument now for Aragua

Position 16 and 7 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

7 matches without a win for Aragua

The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Aragua are no longer polite ones.

Match

7 matches without a goal for Aragua

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 7 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

The dugout

Miguel Jiménez says Aragua went back on their word

“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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aragua

Ronaldo Royero 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Aragua

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edwards Pereira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Santiago Utrera

“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 dugout

Interim Coach: “We have to be better”

“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.

Match

Aragua and Atletico Venezuela cancel each other out

Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Atletico Venezuela came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.

In brief

350 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

11 Apr 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

6 matches without a win for Aragua

The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Aragua are no longer polite ones.

Match

6 matches without a goal for Aragua

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

Squad

Ronaldo Royero 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.

Match

Aragua come up short against Estudiantes de Caracas

Estudiantes de Caracas left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad

Tempers go at Aragua

Kevin Pérez 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 dugout

Román Fernández 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.

The dugout

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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.

The dugout

Juan Briceño knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Juan Briceño trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Looking ahead

Miguel Rosales goes back to face Atletico Venezuela

Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Miguel Rosales’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Aragua needing him to play as if none of it matters.

In brief

349 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

4 Apr 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The wait goes on for Aragua

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.

Match

The goals have deserted Aragua

5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Aragua can tell you which week it ends in.

Squad

Edwards Pereira signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Edwards Pereira commits to Aragua for another 2 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Aragua

Alejandro Gutiérrez 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.

Squad

Edwards Pereira 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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Aragua against Mineros de Guayana

0‑1 to Mineros de Guayana, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Victor Guerrero

“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 ratings

Marcos Arias was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 17. 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.

The dugout

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 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.

In brief

348 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

28 Mar 2033
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Aragua board

A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.

Market

Ronaldo Royero 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 Aragua can pretend not to have heard.

Match

The wait goes on for Aragua

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

The goals have deserted Aragua

4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Aragua can tell you which week it ends in.

Squad

A falling-out at Aragua

Ronaldo Royero and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Aragua training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edwards Pereira 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.

Player ratings

Nobody on the pitch touched Tadeo Schettino

7.41, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Aragua had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Interim Coach on the draw

“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.

The dugout

Ronaldo Royero 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 Aragua, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

347 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

21 Mar 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Every point is an argument now for Aragua

Position 16 and 5 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Aragua

Alejandro Gutiérrez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Aragua cannot find the net

3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.

Squad

Words at Aragua training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo Royero 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.

Match

Portuguesa take the points off Aragua

Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

No hiding place for Alejandro Gutiérrez

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

Squad

100 appearances for Javier Villafraz

100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.

The dugout

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 0‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.

The dugout

Ronaldo Royero 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 Aragua, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

346 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

14 Mar 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Alejandro Gutiérrez 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 Aragua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Diego Arango out for 23 days

The medical room confirms 23 days on the sidelines for Diego Arango, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Squad

Edwards Pereira 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.

Match

Caracas take the points off Aragua

Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

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 0‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.

Looking ahead

Ronny Maza faces his old club

Portuguesa next, and one man in the Aragua dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.

The dugout

The manager makes Victor Guerrero a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Aragua. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

Player ratings

Grey Montiel was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 10. 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.

The dugout

Santiago Utrera does not fit this one

Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.

In brief

345 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

7 Mar 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Ronaldo Royero 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 Aragua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Aragua training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edwards Pereira 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.

Match

Aragua come up short against Deportivo Lara

Deportivo Lara left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Player ratings

Grey Montiel beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

The dugout

Interim Coach: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

Squad

Ronaldo Royero makes the team of the month

Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.

The dugout

When it matters, Alejandro Gutiérrez plays

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.

Squad

Víctor Rivero loses the armband

The captaincy has been taken off Víctor Rivero. Aragua will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.

The dugout

Juan Briceño does not fit this one

Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.

In brief

344 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

28 Feb 2033
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The terraces

Anger at Aragua 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.

Squad

The knee: Francisco Cordova out for 19 days

19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Aragua lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

The cup run ends for Aragua

0‑1 against Deportivo La Guaira, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.

Market

Ronaldo Royero asks to leave Aragua

“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

Aragua end the wait against Zulia

It had gone 8 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aragua

Alejandro Gutiérrez 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.

Squad

Ronaldo Royero 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.

Match

Aragua get the job done against Zulia

A 2‑0 win over Zulia, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Grey Montiel at his very best

Marked 8.18. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Aragua.

In brief

343 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

21 Feb 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Francisco Cordova out for 26 days

26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Aragua lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

No end in sight to Aragua's wait for a win

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

Squad

Words at Aragua training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edwards Pereira 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.

Squad

Javier Villafraz 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 Aragua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

A bad afternoon for Aragua against Deportivo La Guaira

0‑2 to Deportivo La Guaira, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

No hiding place for Juan Briceño

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

The dugout

Interim Coach answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

Looking ahead

A reunion for Ronny Maza

He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Zulia in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.

The dugout

Somebody else is better right now than Victor Cordova

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

342 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

14 Feb 2033
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Boardroom

The caretaker keeps it: Interim Coach confirmed

A month of looking elsewhere ended where it started. He already knows every name in the building; the rest of it he now has to prove in public.

Squad

The knee: Francisco Cordova out for 33 days

33 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Aragua lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

6 matches without a win for Aragua

The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Aragua are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Aragua lose Diego Arango

51 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Squad

Tempers go at Aragua

Ronaldo Royero 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

Marcos Arias was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 21. 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Aragua

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edwards Pereira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

No hiding place for Victor Guerrero

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

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Interim Coach on the draw

“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.

In brief

341 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

7 Feb 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Francisco Cordova damages knee ligaments — 40 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 40 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.

Match

Nowhere to hide for Aragua

1‑4 against Deportivo Tachira, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.

Squad

Alejandro Gutiérrez stands alone

7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Match

The wait goes on for Aragua

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

Junior Rosales 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 Aragua can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Víctor Rivero signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Víctor Rivero and Aragua agree another 2 years.

Squad

Ronaldo Royero 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 dugout

Ronaldo Royero 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.

Boardroom

Doors closed at Aragua

The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.

In brief

340 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

31 Jan 2033
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The terraces

Anger at Aragua 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.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Alejandro Gutiérrez

There were 11 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.

Squad

The knee: Francisco Cordova out for 47 days

47 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Aragua lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Ronaldo Royero 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 Aragua can pretend not to have heard.

Match

The wait goes on for Aragua

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aragua

Alejandro Gutiérrez 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.

Boardroom

Still nobody in the Aragua dugout

11 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.

Squad

Edwards Pereira 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 dugout

The view from the dugout

“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.

In brief

339 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

24 Jan 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Aragua run out of patience with Interim Coach

The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Interim Coach clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Francisco Cordova

54 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aragua lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Boardroom

A stranger takes charge at Aragua

The coaching staff has emptied out entirely and there was nobody internal to promote, so the club has appointed a name almost none of its supporters will recognise. Clubs recover from this; none of them enjoy explaining it.

Boardroom

Interim Coach minds the shop at Aragua

“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.

Player ratings

Grey Montiel was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 22. 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aragua

Ronaldo Royero 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.

Boardroom

Graduation day at Aragua

11 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.

Squad

Words at Aragua training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edwards Pereira 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.

Market

Aragua promote Roberto Ferraresi from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Roberto Ferraresi has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.

In brief

338 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

17 Jan 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Francisco Cordova damages knee ligaments — 61 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 61 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.

Squad

Alejandro Gutiérrez 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 Aragua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Aragua training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo Royero 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.

Market

Román Fernández linked with a move away

The name of Román Fernández keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Aragua say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

Alejandro Gonzalez knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alejandro Gonzalez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Boardroom

The Aragua production line keeps running

67 graduates out of an academy now rated 9 out of 20. Clubs this size survive on exactly that, and the town knows every name.

In brief

337 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

10 Jan 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the Aragua boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Francisco Cordova

68 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aragua lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

A muscle injury sidelines Marcos Arias for 18 days

Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Aragua will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.

Squad

Tempers go at Aragua

Alejandro Gutiérrez 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.

Boardroom

Junior Murillo will join Aragua for nothing

The paperwork is done long before the player is. Junior Murillo has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Aragua have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.

Squad

A row about effort at Aragua

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edwards Pereira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

Zamora tell Aragua: Raúl Colombo is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Market

The Ronny Maza talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Aragua know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

Market

Aragua shop where it costs nothing

Victor Guerrero signs, and the fee column stays empty. Deals like this look small in July and clever by March — or they are never mentioned again.

In brief

336 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

3 Jan 2033
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

The mood at Aragua 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.

Squad

The knee: Francisco Cordova out for 75 days

75 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Aragua lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Boardroom

Interim Coach has until the next board meeting

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

Market

Ronaldo Royero 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 Aragua can pretend not to have heard.

Boardroom

Emergency meeting at Aragua

The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.

Squad

Alejandro Gutiérrez signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alejandro Gutiérrez and Aragua agree another 4 years.

Squad

A falling-out at Aragua

Ronaldo Royero and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Aragua

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edwards Pereira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

When it matters, Alejandro Gutiérrez plays

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.

In brief

335 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

27 Dec 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Francisco Cordova

82 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aragua lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

Every point is an argument now for Aragua

Position 15 and 11 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.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Gabriel Ferraresi

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Aragua have done the hard part with Deportivo Tachira, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Squad

A falling-out at Aragua

Alejandro Gutiérrez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Aragua training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo Royero 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.

Transfer targets

Deportivo Tachira tell Aragua: Junior Otero is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

In brief

334 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

20 Dec 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Francisco Cordova damages knee ligaments — 89 days out

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.

Market

Deportivo La Guaira come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Aragua did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Transfer targets

Too dear: Aragua walk away from José Rondón

$340.0K was the most the club would pay and Deportivo Lara were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.

Transfer targets

Aragua rebuffed over Leo Bravo

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Estudiantes de Merida have kept their man, and Aragua go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Edwards Pereira 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aragua

Adrián Briceño 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.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Junior Otero is in the works

Aragua have made the call to Deportivo Tachira. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

Market

Román Fernández linked with a move away

The name of Román Fernández keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Aragua say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

José López knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and José López trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

  • Boardroom Aragua keep producing them
  • Squad The training reports on José López are not good
  • The dugout The manager comes out for Ronny Maza
333 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

13 Dec 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Francisco Cordova out for 96 days

96 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Aragua lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the Aragua boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Market

Abraham Martínez agrees terms with Estudiantes de Caracas

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Aragua people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Market

Abraham Martínez puts it in writing

“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 Aragua, and it is not being withdrawn.

Transfer targets

Aragua make their move for José Rondón

$340.0K on the table at Deportivo Lara. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Squad

Ronaldo Royero 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 Aragua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Aragua training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edwards Pereira 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.

Transfer targets

Zamora tell Aragua: Raúl Colombo is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Transfer targets

Aragua try to borrow Franco Álvarez

Deportivo La Guaira have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

In brief

332 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

6 Dec 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Aragua board

A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Francisco Cordova

103 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aragua lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Boardroom

Aragua spell it out for Interim Coach

The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.

Market

Ronaldo Royero 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 Aragua can pretend not to have heard.

Boardroom

Crisis meeting at Aragua

The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.

Boardroom

Francisco Savarino has agreed to leave Aragua for nothing

He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.

Squad

Ronny Maza signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ronny Maza and Aragua agree another 2 years.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aragua

Alejandro Gutiérrez 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.

Squad

Words at Aragua training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo Royero 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.

In brief

331 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

29 Nov 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Francisco Cordova

110 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aragua lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

Aragua are in real trouble now

Position 15, 11 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Squad

Alejandro Gutiérrez 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 Aragua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

330 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

22 Nov 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Francisco Cordova out for 117 days

117 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Aragua lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aragua

Ronaldo Royero 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Aragua

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edwards Pereira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

329 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

15 Nov 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the Aragua boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Squad

Words at Aragua training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo Royero 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.

Squad

A muscle injury sidelines Miguel Savarino for 14 days

Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Aragua will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.

Squad

A falling-out at Aragua

Kevin Pérez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

The Ronny Maza question follows Aragua around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ronny Maza’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Squad

Edwards Pereira is doing the arithmetic

The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at Aragua says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.

In brief

328 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

8 Nov 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Aragua board

A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.

Boardroom

Aragua put Interim Coach on notice

The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.

Market

Ronaldo Royero 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 Aragua can pretend not to have heard.

Boardroom

Crisis meeting at Aragua

The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.

Squad

Tempers go at Aragua

Alejandro Gutiérrez 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Aragua

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edwards Pereira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

When it matters, Alejandro Gutiérrez plays

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 dugout

Jose Casseres loses the manager who believed in him

A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Jose Casseres's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.

Squad

Víctor Rivero is doing the arithmetic

The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at Aragua says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.

In brief

  • The dugout José López asks for a word with the manager
  • Squad Russo still has not settled
  • The dugout The manager plants his flag on Ronny Maza
327 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

1 Nov 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Every point is an argument now for Aragua

Position 15 and 11 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.

The dugout

José López keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Aragua may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Tempers go at Aragua

Ronaldo Royero 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.

Squad

Edwards Pereira 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 dugout

Jose Casseres without the man who signed him

Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Jose Casseres was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.

Squad

Ronny Maza is doing the arithmetic

The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at Aragua says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.

In brief

326 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

25 Oct 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A falling-out at Aragua

Alejandro Gutiérrez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Ronaldo Royero 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 dugout

Ronaldo Royero 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.

In brief

325 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

18 Oct 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the Aragua boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aragua

Alejandro Gutiérrez 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Aragua

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edwards Pereira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Kevin Pérez signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kevin Pérez and Aragua agree another 3 years.

The dugout

Ronaldo Royero 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 Aragua, and both men came out saying it was fine.

The dugout

Alejandro Gonzalez 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

324 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

11 Oct 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Aragua board

A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.

Market

Ronaldo Royero puts it in writing

“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 Aragua, and it is not being withdrawn.

Boardroom

Roberto Ferraresi has agreed to leave Aragua for nothing

He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.

Squad

Ronaldo Royero 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 Aragua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Aragua training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edwards Pereira 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.

Squad

Kevin Pérez signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Kevin Pérez commits to Aragua for another 3 years.

In brief

323 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

4 Oct 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Every point is an argument now for Aragua

Position 15 and 11 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.

Boardroom

Aragua spell it out for Interim Coach

The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.

Boardroom

Crisis meeting at Aragua

The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.

Market

Only the photograph left for Roberto Ferraresi

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Roberto Ferraresi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Aragua the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Alejandro Gutiérrez 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 Aragua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Ronaldo Royero 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.

Squad

Edwards Pereira loses the armband

The captaincy has been taken off Edwards Pereira. Aragua will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.

The dugout

Francisco Cordova without the man who signed him

Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Francisco Cordova was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.

Squad

Aragua give Víctor Rivero the armband

A decision that decides nothing on the pitch and everything in the room. The manager has said, without saying it, whose voice he wants heard when his own is not there.

In brief

322 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

27 Sep 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A row about effort at Aragua

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edwards Pereira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Javier Villafraz 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 Aragua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

No hiding place for José López

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

In brief

321 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

20 Sep 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Aragua

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Market

Roberto Ferraresi asks to leave Aragua

“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.

The dugout

Adrián Briceño keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Aragua may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

A falling-out at Aragua

Ronaldo Royero and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Edwards Pereira 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.

Market

The Ronny Maza question follows Aragua around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ronny Maza’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Market

The clock does Roberto Ferraresi’s negotiating for him

2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Aragua could ask drops and the wages Roberto Ferraresi can ask rise.

The dugout

Miguel Jiménez 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 Aragua, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Boardroom

The Aragua academy earns its keep

67 graduates, from a department now rated 9 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.

In brief

320 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

13 Sep 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Aragua board

A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.

Market

Ronaldo Royero 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 Aragua can pretend not to have heard.

The dugout

Abraham Martínez: 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.” Aragua have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Words at Aragua training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo Royero 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Aragua

Juan Briceño and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

When it matters, Alejandro Gutiérrez plays

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.

Market

Abraham Martínez is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Aragua has been clear about where Abraham Martínez stands, which is more than many ever get.

The dugout

Roberto Ferraresi 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 Aragua, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Squad

Ronny Maza can feel the drop

The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at Aragua says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.

In brief

319 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

6 Sep 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Aragua sink to position 15

11 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Boardroom

Interim Coach has until the next board meeting

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

Boardroom

The Aragua board call everybody in

Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.

Squad

Edwards Pereira signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Edwards Pereira and Aragua agree another 2 years.

Squad

Alejandro Gutiérrez 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 Aragua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Edwards Pereira 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 dugout

Ronaldo Royero knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ronaldo Royero trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

Jose Casseres without the man who signed him

Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Jose Casseres was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.

Squad

Aragua have started building around Luiyi Rincón

He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.

In brief

318 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

30 Aug 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Words exchanged at Aragua

Ronaldo Royero 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.

Squad

Javier Villafraz 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.

Squad

Jose Rosales stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Jose Rosales and Aragua agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

The dugout

Ronaldo Royero 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 Aragua, and both men came out saying it was fine.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Alejandro Gonzalez

“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.

Market

The Román Fernández story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Román Fernández signs something — a contract at Aragua or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

317 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

23 Aug 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Aragua

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Aragua is running low.

Market

Roberto Ferraresi asks to leave Aragua

“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.

The dugout

Alejandro Gonzalez: 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.” Aragua have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aragua

Alejandro Gutiérrez 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Aragua

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ronaldo Royero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Jose Rosales

“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.

Market

The Ronny Maza question follows Aragua around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ronny Maza’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Market

Roberto Ferraresi runs his contract down

3 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Aragua money.

Squad

Jose Rosales wants out of the dugout

“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Aragua will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.

In brief

316 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

16 Aug 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Anger at Aragua 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.

Squad

A fracture rules Juan Briceño out for 18 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aragua will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Ronaldo Royero puts it in writing

“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 Aragua, and it is not being withdrawn.

Match

Aragua finish in position 15

11 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.

Squad

Tempers go at Aragua

Alejandro Gutiérrez 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Aragua

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ronaldo Royero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Fernando Casseres signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Fernando Casseres commits to Aragua for another 3 years.

Match

Miguel Rosales rescues a point for Aragua

It needed Miguel Rosales to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Zamora, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.

The dugout

Alejandro Gutiérrez has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Aragua 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.

In brief

315 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

9 Aug 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Aragua are in real trouble now

Position 16, 10 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Squad

Juan Briceño breaks a bone — 25 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

Miguel Rosales stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Miguel Rosales and Aragua agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Tempers go at Aragua

Ronaldo Royero 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

Llaneros take the points off Aragua

Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Transfer targets

Jesús Duarte stays at Zamora as time runs out

A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Aragua will try again when the window opens; Zamora may not be selling by then.

The dugout

Alejandro Gutiérrez 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 Royero runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Words at Aragua training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Javier Villafraz 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.

In brief

314 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

2 Aug 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Juan Briceño breaks a bone — 32 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Match

The drought breaks for Aragua

14 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Atletico Venezuela were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.

Boardroom

Aragua spell it out for Interim Coach

The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.

Match

Cruel end for Atletico Venezuela as Aragua pounce

There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Aragua scored in the 93th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.

Boardroom

Emergency meeting at Aragua

The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.

Player ratings

Miguel Jiménez scores twice — 7.96

Two goals and a mark of 7.96 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

The dugout

Miguel Jiménez says Aragua went back on their word

“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.

Squad

Miguel Rosales stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Miguel Rosales and Aragua agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Player ratings

Ronaldo Royero was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 22. 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.

In brief

313 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

26 Jul 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

14 matches without a win for Aragua

The run now stands at 14, and the questions being asked around Aragua are no longer polite ones.

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Aragua

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Squad

39 days out for Juan Briceño after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Aragua will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Market

Roberto Ferraresi asks to leave Aragua

“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.

Transfer targets

$590.0K settles it between the clubs for Jesús Duarte

Zamora have accepted the money. What Aragua do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.

Player ratings

Grey Montiel beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Boardroom

Window shuts: 0 in, 1 out at Aragua

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Squad

Víctor Rivero out for 37 days

The medical room confirms 37 days on the sidelines for Víctor Rivero, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Transfer targets

Aragua make their move for Denilson Ojeda

$300.0K on the table at Carabobo. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

In brief

312 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

19 Jul 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Anger at Aragua 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.

Match

13 matches without a win for Aragua

The run now stands at 13, and the questions being asked around Aragua are no longer polite ones.

Squad

A fracture rules Juan Briceño out for 46 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aragua will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Ronaldo Royero asks to leave Aragua

“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.

Transfer targets

Aragua rebuffed over Andres Otero

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Deportivo Lara have kept their man, and Aragua go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Ronaldo Royero 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 Aragua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Javier Villafraz 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 ratings

Marcos Arias beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Match

Aragua and Mineros de Guayana 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.

In brief

311 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

12 Jul 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

12 matches without a win for Aragua

The run now stands at 12, and the questions being asked around Aragua are no longer polite ones.

Match

12 matches without a goal for Aragua

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 12 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

Match

Aragua are in real trouble now

Position 16, 6 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Squad

Juan Briceño breaks a bone — 53 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 53 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

Alejandro Gutiérrez stands alone

8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Squad

Alejandro Gutiérrez 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 Aragua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets

Zamora tell Aragua: Jesús Duarte is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Squad

Words at Aragua training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo Royero 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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Aragua against Carabobo

0‑2 to Carabobo, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

In brief

310 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

5 Jul 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to Aragua's wait for a win

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

Match

Aragua cannot find the net

11 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.

Squad

A fracture rules Juan Briceño out for 60 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aragua will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Boardroom

Interim Coach has until the next board meeting

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

Boardroom

Emergency meeting at Aragua

The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.

Squad

Víctor Rivero signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Víctor Rivero commits to Aragua for another 2 years.

Squad

A falling-out at Aragua

Alejandro Gutiérrez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Dante Jadli

Aragua asked and Caracas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad

Ronaldo Royero 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.

In brief

309 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

28 Jun 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Juan Briceño breaks a bone — 67 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 67 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Match

The wait goes on for Aragua

10 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

The goals have deserted Aragua

10 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Aragua can tell you which week it ends in.

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Aragua

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Squad

Alejandro Gutiérrez keeps Aragua 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.

Market

Roberto Ferraresi puts it in writing

“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 Aragua, and it is not being withdrawn.

Transfer targets

Aragua agree $560.0K for Jesús Duarte

The clubs have shaken hands with Zamora; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.

Squad

A falling-out at Aragua

Ronaldo Royero and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Denilson Ojeda

Aragua asked and Carabobo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

In brief

308 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

21 Jun 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

The mood at Aragua 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.

Squad

A fracture rules Juan Briceño out for 74 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aragua will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

9 matches without a win for Aragua

The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Aragua are no longer polite ones.

Match

9 matches without a goal for Aragua

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 9 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

Squad

Alejandro Gutiérrez stands alone

6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Squad

A falling-out at Aragua

Daniel Castillo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Aragua training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo Royero 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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Aragua against Deportivo Lara

0‑1 to Deportivo Lara, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Grey Montiel

Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

In brief

307 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

14 Jun 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

81 days out for Juan Briceño after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Aragua will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Match

Aragua sink to position 16

5 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Match

8 matches without a win for Aragua

The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Aragua are no longer polite ones.

Match

8 matches without a goal for Aragua

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 8 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

Transfer targets

Fee done, terms next for Andres Otero

Aragua and Deportivo Lara have settled on $970.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.

Squad

Daniel Castillo stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Daniel Castillo and Aragua agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Alejandro Gutiérrez 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 Aragua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets

Zamora tell Aragua: Jesús Duarte is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Squad

A row about effort at Aragua

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ronaldo Royero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

306 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

7 Jun 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

88 days out for Juan Briceño after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Aragua will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Boardroom

Interim Coach has until the next board meeting

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

Match

Nowhere to hide for Aragua

0‑3 against Deportivo La Guaira, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.

The dugout

Daniel Castillo: 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.” Aragua have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Boardroom

Emergency meeting at Aragua

The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.

Match

The wait goes on for Aragua

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.

Match

The goals have deserted Aragua

7 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Aragua can tell you which week it ends in.

Squad

Alejandro Gutiérrez stands alone

6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Player ratings

Marcos Arias runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

In brief

305 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

31 May 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A fracture rules Juan Briceño out for 95 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aragua will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Roberto Ferraresi 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 Aragua can pretend not to have heard.

Match

The wait goes on for Aragua

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.

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Aragua

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Match

The goals have deserted Aragua

6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Aragua can tell you which week it ends in.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aragua

Alejandro Gutiérrez 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Aragua

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ronaldo Royero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Aragua leaking at the back

4 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.

Match

Estudiantes de Merida take the points off Aragua

Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

In brief

304 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

24 May 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Anger at Aragua 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.

Squad

102 days out for Juan Briceño after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Aragua will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Match

A hiding for Aragua

Beaten 0‑3 by Deportivo Tachira, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Alejandro Gutiérrez

There were 7 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

No end in sight to Aragua's wait for a win

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

Match

Aragua cannot find the net

5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.

Squad

Tempers go at Aragua

Alejandro Gutiérrez 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.

Squad

Words at Aragua training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo Royero 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Ronaldo Royero

“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.

In brief

303 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

17 May 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Aragua sink to position 16

5 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Squad

22 days out for Luis Arango after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Aragua will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Squad

Alejandro Gutiérrez keeps Aragua in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 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 Aragua

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

The goals have deserted Aragua

4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Aragua can tell you which week it ends in.

Squad

Tempers go at Aragua

Ronaldo Royero 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.

Squad

Words at Aragua training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edwards Pereira 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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Aragua against Metropolitanos

0‑2 to Metropolitanos, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

No hiding place for Roberto Ferraresi

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

In brief

  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • Player ratings Grey Montiel runs at them all day
  • The dugout A promise honoured for Juan Briceño
302 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

10 May 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A fracture rules Luis Arango out for 29 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aragua will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Player ratings

Grey Montiel beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

A falling-out at Aragua

Alejandro Gutiérrez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Aragua training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edwards Pereira 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.

Match

3 matches without a goal for Aragua

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

Match

A bad afternoon for Aragua against Trujillanos

0‑2 to Trujillanos, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

Francisco Cordova stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Francisco Cordova and Aragua agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

The dugout

Interim Coach: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Abraham Martínez

“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.

In brief

301 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

3 May 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Aragua spell it out for Interim Coach

The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.

Squad

36 days out for Luis Arango after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Aragua will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Boardroom

Emergency meeting at Aragua

The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the Aragua boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Squad

Ronny Maza signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ronny Maza commits to Aragua for another 2 years.

Squad

Words at Aragua training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo Royero 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Aragua

Javier Villafraz 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

Aragua come up short against Zamora

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

The dugout

No hiding place for Alejandro Gutiérrez

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

In brief

300 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

26 Apr 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Aragua board

A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.

Squad

Alejandro Gutiérrez keeps Aragua in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Match

A hiding for Aragua

Beaten 0‑4 by Llaneros, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.

Squad

A fracture rules Luis Arango out for 43 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aragua will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Roberto Ferraresi asks to leave Aragua

“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.

The dugout

Miguel Jiménez says Aragua went back on their word

“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.

Squad

Tempers go at Aragua

Alejandro Gutiérrez 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.

Squad

Edwards Pereira 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.

Boardroom

Doors closed at Aragua

The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.

In brief

299 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

19 Apr 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

The drought breaks for Aragua

13 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Atletico Venezuela were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.

Squad

50 days out for Luis Arango after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Aragua will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Match

Aragua are in real trouble now

Position 15, 5 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Squad

A day Miguel Rosales will not forget

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.

The dugout

Abraham Martínez keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Aragua may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Tempers go at Aragua

Ronaldo Royero 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

Ninety minutes of Miguel Rosales at his very best

Marked 9.51. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Aragua.

Match

Miguel Rosales the difference as Aragua beat Atletico Venezuela

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Miguel Rosales. 3‑1 against Atletico Venezuela, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Squad

A row about effort at Aragua

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Javier Villafraz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

298 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

12 Apr 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The wait goes on for Aragua

13 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

A hiding for Aragua

Beaten 0‑3 by Estudiantes de Caracas, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.

Match

The goals have deserted Aragua

9 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Aragua can tell you which week it ends in.

Squad

A falling-out at Aragua

Alejandro Gutiérrez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Aragua training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo Royero 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Ronaldo Royero

“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.

Boardroom

Doors closed at Aragua

The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.

The dugout

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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.

The dugout

Tadeo Schettino is still being punished for one mistake

Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.

In brief

297 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

5 Apr 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to Aragua's wait for a win

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

Boardroom

Aragua spell it out for Interim Coach

The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.

Boardroom

Crisis meeting at Aragua

The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.

Match

Aragua cannot find the net

8 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aragua

Alejandro Gutiérrez 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.

Squad

Words at Aragua training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edwards Pereira 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.

Match

Mineros de Guayana take the points off Aragua

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

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Román Fernández

“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 ratings

Marcos Arias beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

In brief

296 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

29 Mar 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

The mood at Aragua 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.

Match

No end in sight to Aragua's wait for a win

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

Market

Roberto Ferraresi asks to leave Aragua

“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.

Squad

Alejandro Gutiérrez keeps Aragua in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Match

7 matches without a goal for Aragua

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 7 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

Squad

Ronaldo Royero 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 Aragua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Aragua

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edwards Pereira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

A bad afternoon for Aragua against Carabobo

0‑2 to Carabobo, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Ronny Maza

“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.

In brief

295 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

22 Mar 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

No end in sight to Aragua's wait for a win

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

Match

Aragua sink to position 16

2 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Squad

Alejandro Gutiérrez stands alone

6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Match

Aragua cannot find the net

6 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.

Squad

Alejandro Gutiérrez 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 Aragua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Grey Montiel runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

A row about effort at Aragua

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ronaldo Royero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Interim Coach on the draw

“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.

The dugout

Edwards Pereira 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 Aragua, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

294 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

15 Mar 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The wait goes on for Aragua

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.

Match

Aragua taken apart

0‑3 to Caracas, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.

Squad

Alejandro Gutiérrez stands alone

7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Match

The goals have deserted Aragua

5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Aragua can tell you which week it ends in.

Squad

Words at Aragua training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edwards Pereira 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Aragua

Roberto Ferraresi 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.

Boardroom

Doors closed at Aragua

The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.

The dugout

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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.

The dugout

No hiding place for Kevin Pérez

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

In brief

293 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

8 Mar 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

8 matches without a win for Aragua

The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Aragua are no longer polite ones.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Marcos Arias

Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

Aragua cannot find the net

4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aragua

Ronaldo Royero 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.

Squad

Edwards Pereira 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.

Match

Aragua come up short against Deportivo Lara

Deportivo Lara left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad

Yonner Borges signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Yonner Borges and Aragua agree another 3 years.

The dugout

Interim Coach: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

Squad

David Castillo makes the team of the month

Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.

In brief

292 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

1 Mar 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Anger at Aragua 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.

Squad

13 saves: Alejandro Gutiérrez was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 13 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Match

The small margins put Aragua out

Out, 0‑2 to Caracas, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.

Market

Roberto Ferraresi 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 Aragua can pretend not to have heard.

Match

7 matches without a win for Aragua

The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Aragua are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Tempers go at Aragua

Ronaldo Royero 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

The goals have deserted Aragua

3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Aragua can tell you which week it ends in.

Match

A bad afternoon for Aragua against Zulia

0‑1 to Zulia, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Román Fernández

“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.

In brief

291 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

23 Feb 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

A hiding for Aragua

Beaten 0‑4 by Deportivo La Guaira, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.

Squad

Alejandro Gutiérrez stands alone

7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Match

No end in sight to Aragua's wait for a win

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

Squad

Tempers go at Aragua

Alejandro Gutiérrez 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.

Squad

Words at Aragua training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edwards Pereira 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Ronaldo Royero

“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.

Boardroom

Inquest at Aragua

The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.

The dugout

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 0‑4 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.

Looking ahead

Ronny Maza faces his old club

Zulia next, and one man in the Aragua dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.

In brief

290 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

16 Feb 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

4 matches without a win for Aragua

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Aragua are no longer polite ones.

Squad

A falling-out at Aragua

Ronaldo Royero and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Estudiantes de Merida take the points off Aragua

Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Words at Aragua training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edwards Pereira 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.

Player ratings

Grey Montiel was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 20. 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.

The dugout

No hiding place for Javier Villafraz

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

The dugout

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 1‑3 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.

Squad

Alejandro Gonzalez stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Alejandro Gonzalez and Aragua agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

The dugout

Ronaldo Royero 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 Aragua, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

289 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

9 Feb 2032
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Edwards Pereira stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Edwards Pereira and Aragua agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

A falling-out at Aragua

Alejandro Gutiérrez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Ronaldo Royero 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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Aragua against Deportivo Tachira

0‑2 to Deportivo Tachira, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Player ratings

Grey Montiel beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

The dugout

Interim Coach answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

Squad

Román Fernández wants out of the dugout

“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Aragua will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.

The dugout

Santiago Utrera 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.

The dugout

Roberto Ferraresi left out for tactical reasons at Aragua

The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.

In brief

288 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

2 Feb 2032
From our football correspondent Steady

The terraces

Anger at Aragua 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.

Market

Roberto Ferraresi asks to leave Aragua

“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.

Squad

Alejandro Gutiérrez stands alone

6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Squad

Edwards Pereira signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Edwards Pereira commits to Aragua for another 2 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Aragua

Ronaldo Royero 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Aragua

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edwards Pereira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Interim Coach on the point

“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.

The dugout

Daniel Castillo 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 Aragua, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Match

Point won or two lost for Aragua?

Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Metropolitanos? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.

In brief

287 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

26 Jan 2032
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Grey Montiel beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Tempers go at Aragua

Ronny Maza 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.

Boardroom

6 academy players handed senior numbers at Aragua

The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.

Match

A bad afternoon for Aragua against Trujillanos

1‑3 to Trujillanos, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

A row about effort at Aragua

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edwards Pereira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

Aragua promote David Rosales from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. David Rosales has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.

Market

One of our own: Diego Arango joins the Aragua first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Diego Arango is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market

One of our own: Gabriel Herrera joins the Aragua first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Gabriel Herrera is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market

Aragua promote Daniel Castillo from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Daniel Castillo has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.

In brief

286 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

19 Jan 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Transfer targets

Door shut on Miguel Pernía

Aragua asked and Carabobo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aragua

Alejandro Gutiérrez 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Aragua

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ronaldo Royero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

285 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

12 Jan 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Aragua

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Aragua is running low.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aragua

Ronaldo Royero 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.

Squad

Words at Aragua training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edwards Pereira 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.

Transfer targets

Alejandro Cichero stays at Caracas as time runs out

A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Aragua will try again when the window opens; Caracas may not be selling by then.

Market

Salomon Arango steps up from the Aragua academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Salomon Arango has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Market

One of our own: Carlos Arango joins the Aragua first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Carlos Arango is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market

Alejandro Gonzalez steps up from the Aragua academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Alejandro Gonzalez has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Market

One of our own: Gabriel Casseres joins the Aragua first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Gabriel Casseres is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

The dugout

Abraham Martínez 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

284 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

5 Jan 2032
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The terraces

The mood at Aragua 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.

Boardroom

Aragua spell it out for Interim Coach

The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.

Boardroom

The Aragua board call everybody in

Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.

Market

Roberto Ferraresi 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 Aragua can pretend not to have heard.

Transfer targets

An offer of $510.0K for Alejandro Cichero

Aragua have gone to Caracas 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.

Squad

Marcos Arias signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Marcos Arias commits to Aragua for another 4 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Aragua

Ronaldo Royero 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.

Squad

Edwards Pereira 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.

Transfer targets

Walter Molina stays at Carabobo as time runs out

A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Aragua will try again when the window opens; Carabobo may not be selling by then.

In brief

283 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

29 Dec 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

Every point is an argument now for Aragua

Position 14 and 22 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Aragua

Alejandro Gutiérrez 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.

Transfer targets

Aragua rebuffed over Alejandro Cichero

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Caracas have kept their man, and Aragua go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Words at Aragua training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronaldo Royero 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 dugout

Marcos Arias is still being punished for one mistake

Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.

The dugout

Ronaldo Royero 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 Aragua, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Squad

José López has had enough of the bench

“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Aragua will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.

Market

Carlos Herrera leaves for nothing

Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Carlos Herrera leaves Aragua the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.

Market

Gabriel Rosales leaves for nothing

Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Gabriel Rosales leaves Aragua the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.

In brief

282 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

22 Dec 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

17 days out for Marcos Arias after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Aragua will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Transfer targets

Carlos Ferraresi due for a Aragua medical

Everything agreed with Metropolitanos, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Transfer targets

Carabobo tell Aragua: Miguel Pernía is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Squad

A falling-out at Aragua

Ronaldo Royero and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Aragua

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edwards Pereira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Andres Rios out for 22 days

The medical room confirms 22 days on the sidelines for Andres Rios, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

In brief

281 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

15 Dec 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Marcos Arias breaks a bone — 24 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Aragua

Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.

Transfer targets

Aragua agree $280.0K for Esteban Ojeda

The clubs have shaken hands with Estudiantes de Caracas; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.

Transfer targets

No deal for Alejandro Cichero at that price

Aragua offered $510.0K; Caracas said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aragua

Ronaldo Royero 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Aragua

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edwards Pereira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

280 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

8 Dec 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The terraces

The mood at Aragua 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.

Squad

Marcos Arias breaks a bone — 31 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Boardroom

Aragua spell it out for Interim Coach

The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.

Boardroom

The Aragua board call everybody in

Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.

Market

Roberto Ferraresi 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 Aragua can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

A move Roberto Ferraresi would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Roberto Ferraresi is living that version at Aragua, and it tends to show in the first month.

Transfer targets

Aragua agree $31.0K for Sergio Herrera

The clubs have shaken hands with Mineros de Guayana; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.

Transfer targets

Aragua make their move for Alejandro Cichero

$510.0K on the table at Caracas. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Squad

Víctor Rivero signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Víctor Rivero and Aragua agree another 2 years.

In brief

279 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

1 Dec 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Marcos Arias breaks a bone — 38 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Match

Aragua sink to position 14

22 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Squad

Ronaldo Royero 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 Aragua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Edwards Pereira 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 dugout

Marcos Arias is still paying for one afternoon at Aragua

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.

The dugout

The manager's exit leaves Francisco Cordova exposed

Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Francisco Cordova is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.

In brief

  • Squad Nerves in the Aragua squad
  • Boardroom Aragua were not finished after all
  • The dugout Víctor Rivero keeps his manager's vote
278 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

24 Nov 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Marcos Arias breaks a bone — 45 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 45 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

A falling-out at Aragua

Ronaldo Royero and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Javier Villafraz 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.

Squad

Aragua lose Andres Rios

50 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Abraham Martínez

“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.

Market

The Román Fernández question follows Aragua around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Román Fernández’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

277 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

17 Nov 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

52 days out for Marcos Arias after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Aragua will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Aragua

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Aragua is running low.

The dugout

José López says Aragua went back on their word

“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.

Squad

A falling-out at Aragua

Alejandro Gutiérrez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Aragua

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Briceño was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Ronaldo Royero knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ronaldo Royero trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Jhonathan Acosta

“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.

Market

The Ronny Maza story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ronny Maza signs something — a contract at Aragua or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Boardroom

The Aragua academy earns its keep

57 graduates, from a department now rated 9 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.

In brief

276 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

10 Nov 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Aragua board

A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.

Squad

A fracture rules Marcos Arias out for 59 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aragua will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Tempers go at Aragua

Ronaldo Royero 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.

In brief

275 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

3 Nov 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

66 days out for Marcos Arias after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Aragua will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Boardroom

Aragua put Interim Coach on notice

The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.

Match

Aragua sink to position 14

22 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Boardroom

The Aragua board call everybody in

Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.

Squad

Ronaldo Royero 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 Aragua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Aragua training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edwards Pereira 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 dugout

The manager has not finished forgetting Marcos Arias's mistake

Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.

Squad

Grey Montiel loses the armband

The captaincy has been taken off Grey Montiel. Aragua will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.

The dugout

Miguel Jiménez 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.

In brief

274 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

27 Oct 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

57 days out for Ronaldo Royero after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Aragua will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Squad

A falling-out at Aragua

Ronaldo Royero and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Aragua training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Briceño 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.

In brief

273 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

20 Oct 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Adrián Briceño damages knee ligaments — 19 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 19 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.

Squad

A fracture rules Ronaldo Royero out for 64 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aragua will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the Aragua boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aragua

Ronaldo Royero 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.

Squad

Román Fernández signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Román Fernández and Aragua agree another 4 years.

Market

The Ronny Maza story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ronny Maza signs something — a contract at Aragua or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

272 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

13 Oct 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Aragua board

A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.

Squad

The knee: Adrián Briceño out for 26 days

26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Aragua lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

A fracture rules Ronaldo Royero out for 71 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aragua will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

In brief

271 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

6 Oct 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Adrián Briceño damages knee ligaments — 33 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 33 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.

Squad

A fracture rules Ronaldo Royero out for 78 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aragua will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Boardroom

Aragua spell it out for Interim Coach

The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.

Match

Aragua are in real trouble now

Position 14, 22 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.

Squad

Grey Montiel signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Grey Montiel and Aragua agree another 4 years.

Squad

Ronaldo Royero 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 Aragua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

270 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

29 Sep 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Adrián Briceño out for 40 days

40 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Aragua lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

85 days out for Ronaldo Royero after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Aragua will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aragua

Alejandro Gutiérrez 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.

In brief

269 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

22 Sep 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Adrián Briceño damages knee ligaments — 47 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 47 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.

Squad

A fracture rules Ronaldo Royero out for 92 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aragua will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the Aragua boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aragua

Ronaldo Royero 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.

Squad

Words at Aragua training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edwards Pereira 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 dugout

Ronaldo Royero 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 Aragua, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

  • Market The Ronny Maza story refuses to die
  • Boardroom The Aragua production line keeps running
  • The dugout The manager plants his flag on Víctor Rivero
268 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

15 Sep 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Aragua board

A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Adrián Briceño

54 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aragua lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

A fracture rules Ronaldo Royero out for 99 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aragua will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Tempers go at Aragua

Ronaldo Royero 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.

Squad

Words at Aragua training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Briceño 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Miguel Jiménez

“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.

In brief

267 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

8 Sep 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A fracture rules Ronaldo Royero out for 106 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aragua will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Boardroom

Interim Coach has until the next board meeting

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

Match

Every point is an argument now for Aragua

Position 14 and 22 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.

Market

Roberto Cardozo 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 Aragua can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Ronaldo Royero 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 Aragua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Aragua count the cost of losing Román Fernández

15 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Squad

Juan Briceño signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Juan Briceño and Aragua agree another 4 years.

The dugout

Marcos Arias is still paying for one afternoon at Aragua

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.

The dugout

Andres Rios 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.

In brief

266 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

1 Sep 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A fracture rules Ronaldo Royero out for 113 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Aragua will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aragua

Alejandro Gutiérrez 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.

Squad

Edwards Pereira 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.

Squad

Andres Cordova: “I am not a substitute”

“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Aragua will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.

The dugout

The manager's exit leaves Andres Cordova exposed

Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Andres Cordova is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.

Market

The Román Fernández question follows Aragua around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Román Fernández’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

  • Boardroom Aragua were not finished after all
  • The dugout The manager plants his flag on Ronny Maza
265 Edition

The Aragua Chronicle

25 Aug 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Aragua

Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Aragua is running low.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aragua

Ronaldo Royero 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.

Squad

Juan Briceño 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 dugout

Sergio Casseres 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 Aragua, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

The Ronny Maza story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ronny Maza signs something — a contract at Aragua or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Boardroom

The Aragua production line keeps running

57 graduates out of an academy now rated 9 out of 20. Clubs this size survive on exactly that, and the town knows every name.

In brief