From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Damián Pizarro at 21 — 8.33
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Damián Pizarro did not need any: 8.33, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Audax Italiano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Troyansky 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
A 2‑1 win over Antofagasta, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“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 ratings14 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.16, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad14 Sep 2026
David Salazar 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Audax Italiano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Troyansky 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Audax Italiano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Federico Mateos is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Audax Italiano, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Franco Troyansky has moved up it.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Looking ahead7 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Antofagasta in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Market7 Sep 2026
Audax Italiano have let the market know Jonathan Villagrán can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 43. 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Nicolás Orellana 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 dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Diego Monreal
“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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
14 new faces, and Audax Italiano are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
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.” Jose Montecinos chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Squad31 Aug 2026
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Audax Italiano are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Match29 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Union La Calera? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Aug 2026
A 3‑1 win over Huachipato, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A brace, and Diego Coelho takes the afternoon — 8.42
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Diego Coelho provided it, and the 8.42 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad24 Aug 2026
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.
Match22 Aug 2026
2‑3 to O'Higgins, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Federico Mateos 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 ratings24 Aug 2026
A performance of 9.31 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
Colo-Colo will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Eduardo Villanueva has pre-agreed a move to Audax Italiano, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Oliver Rojas 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match12 Aug 2026
A 2‑1 win over Iquique, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tomás Ahumada 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Audax Italiano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Mateos 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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Diego Valencia has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Audax Italiano have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Tomás Ahumada
“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 ratings17 Aug 2026
Marked 8.62 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
David Salazar was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.29. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 38. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match8 Aug 2026
Nicolás Orellana wins it after the whistle should have gone
90 minutes played. Nicolás Orellana found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Union Espanola went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.07, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market10 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad10 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Audax Italiano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Gonzalo Maripan 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Tomas Montecinos is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Aug 2026
1‑4 against Colo-Colo, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market3 Aug 2026
The offer from Neftchi for Diego Coelho was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Marked 7.79 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Marcelo Ortiz and Audax Italiano agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Diego Coelho and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Federico Mateos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market3 Aug 2026
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Audax Italiano can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Audax Italiano 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The clock runs on Marcelo Ortiz's contract
24 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.