28 Sep 2031
Sunday
Process
269 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

22 Sep 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the Ayacucho boardroom

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

Market

Juan Delgado 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 The request is on a desk at Ayacucho, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Words exchanged at Ayacucho

Carlos Fernández 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

Álex Osorio 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

No hiding place for Jime Tuesta

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

The dugout

Miguel Callens 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 Miguel Callens trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

Back issues
268 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

15 Sep 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Ayacucho 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.

The dugout

Jime Tuesta says Ayacucho 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 Ayacucho

Kevin Ferreyra 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 Ayacucho training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Álex Osorio 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

Nerves in the Ayacucho squad

Kevin Ferreyra has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.

Squad

A season on the outside for Miguel Callens

He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Ayacucho has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.

In brief

267 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

8 Sep 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Ayacucho 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

Ayacucho sink to position 10

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

Squad

Carlos Fernández stays put

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

The dugout

Diego Amarilla loses the manager who believed in him

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

Squad

Fabián Palomino goes off with his country

A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Ayacucho would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.

Squad

Alonso Tamariz is doing the arithmetic

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

Squad

Sebastián Amaya keeps his options open

“I will play as long as the body lets me and stop the day it does not.” He is 35, with 23 appearances behind him, and the club has to plan for a decision that is not yet made.

The dugout

Iago Arévalo 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.

Boardroom

The Ayacucho academy earns its keep

53 graduates, from a department now rated 7 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.

In brief

266 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

1 Sep 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

The dugout

Sebastián Amaya keeps the receipts

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

Squad

Kevin Ferreyra 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 Ayacucho this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Álex Osorio 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

Sebasthian García stays put

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

The dugout

Carlos Fernández 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

Diego Amarilla without the man who signed him

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

In brief

265 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

25 Aug 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Ayacucho

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

Market

Juan Delgado 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 Ayacucho can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Tempers go at Ayacucho

Kevin Ferreyra 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 Ayacucho training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Álex Osorio 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

Sebasthian García signs a new deal

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

The dugout

Lautaro Porres has been promised minutes

A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Lautaro Porres has written the date down.

In brief

264 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

18 Aug 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Anger at Ayacucho 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

Tempers go at Ayacucho

Carlos Fernández 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

Iago Arévalo 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

263 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

11 Aug 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Every point is an argument now for Ayacucho

Position 10 and 15 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

Jesús Rodríguez: 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.” Ayacucho have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Álex Osorio signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Álex Osorio commits to Ayacucho for another 4 years.

Squad

Álex Osorio 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

Álex Osorio 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Ayacucho

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

In brief

262 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

4 Aug 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Diego Amarilla out for 20 days

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

Boardroom

Ayacucho 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.

The dugout

Miguel Callens: 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.” Ayacucho have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Diego Amarilla signs on for more

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

Squad

A falling-out at Ayacucho

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

Transfer targets

Ayacucho rebuffed over Paolo Guerrero

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

Squad

Words at Ayacucho training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Álex Osorio 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

Carlos Fernández 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

Álex Osorio 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 Ayacucho, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

261 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

28 Jul 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Diego Amarilla out for 27 days

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

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the Ayacucho boardroom

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

Market

Juan Delgado 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 Ayacucho, and it is not being withdrawn.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Christian Carrillo rejects the move

Ayacucho had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Alianza Lima, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Transfer targets

Ayacucho rebuffed over Valentín Cerrudo

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

Squad

Tempers go at Ayacucho

Kevin Ferreyra 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

260 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

21 Jul 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

The mood at Ayacucho 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: Diego Amarilla out for 34 days

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

Boardroom

Window shuts: 0 in, 14 out at Ayacucho

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 14 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Transfer targets

Julio Flores will not be coming to Ayacucho

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Universitario is saying, and nobody at Ayacucho is enjoying the guessing.

Transfer targets

Rafael Livia due for a Ayacucho medical

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

Transfer targets

Door shut on Gonzalo Aguirre

Ayacucho asked and Cienciano 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 at Ayacucho training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Velásquez 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

Iago Arévalo 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

Jime Tuesta 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

259 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

14 Jul 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Diego Amarilla out for 41 days

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

Match

Every point is an argument now for Ayacucho

Position 10 and 15 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

Alejandro Encina asks to leave Ayacucho

“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

The paperwork begins on Ignacio Vázquez

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

Squad

A falling-out at Ayacucho

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

Squad

Nerves in the Ayacucho squad

Alonso Tamariz has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.

The dugout

Sebastián Amaya 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 Ayacucho, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

Beto Valera leaves for nothing

Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Beto Valera leaves Ayacucho the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.

Market

Horacio Hurtado leaves for nothing

Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Horacio Hurtado leaves Ayacucho the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.

In brief

258 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

7 Jul 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Diego Amarilla damages knee ligaments — 48 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 48 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.

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 Ayacucho can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.

Transfer targets

Fee done, terms next for Gonzalo Aguirre

Ayacucho and Cienciano have settled on $1.0M. 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

A falling-out at Ayacucho

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

Squad

Tiziano Rocco signs on for more

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

Transfer targets

Ayacucho rebuffed over Jesus Polo

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

The dugout

Carlos Fernández is still paying for one afternoon at Ayacucho

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.

Boardroom

Ayacucho sign 7 boys into the academy

None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.

Squad

A place in the month's best eleven for Abraham Aguinaga

Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Abraham Aguinaga has come out of that comparison in the side, and Ayacucho have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.

In brief

257 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

30 Jun 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Diego Amarilla

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

Match

The season ends: position 10 for Ayacucho

The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 15 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.

Market

Juan Delgado asks to leave Ayacucho

“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.

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Ayacucho

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

Transfer targets

Ayacucho agree $560.0K for Joaquín Ardaiz

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

Transfer targets

Aldo Garces will not be coming to Ayacucho

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Alianza Lima is saying, and nobody at Ayacucho is enjoying the guessing.

Match

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

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

Squad

Tempers go at Ayacucho

Carlos Fernández 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

Ayacucho come up short against Universitario

Universitario left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

In brief

  • Squad Words at Ayacucho training over how hard people work
  • The dugout Juan Delgado gets it from the manager
  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
256 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

23 Jun 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

The mood at Ayacucho 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 knee injury of the worst kind for Diego Amarilla

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

Transfer targets

Ryu Yabiku turns down Ayacucho

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Melgar keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Match

A bad afternoon for Ayacucho against Melgar

1‑2 to Melgar, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

José Velásquez 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’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 1‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.

Squad

Tempers go at Ayacucho

Simón Herrera 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

Ayacucho ask about Horacio Lapadula

A loan enquiry to Melgar: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

Player ratings

Abraham Aguinaga 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

255 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

16 Jun 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Diego Amarilla out for 69 days

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

Match

Ayacucho are in real trouble now

Position 10, 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Ayacucho

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

Player ratings

Royer Salcedo 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.

Transfer targets

Cienciano tell Ayacucho: Gonzalo Aguirre 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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Kevin Ferreyra

“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

Melgar join the queue for Iván Spoljaric

Add another name to the list: Melgar have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Iván Spoljaric. The answer from Ayacucho has not changed — yet.

Player ratings

One of those days for Abraham Aguinaga

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.06, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Transfer targets

Ayacucho try to borrow Ryu Yabiku

Melgar 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

254 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

9 Jun 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Diego Amarilla out for 76 days

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

Transfer targets

$1.0M settles it between the clubs for Gonzalo Aguirre

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

Market

Rodrigo Cacho Sousa 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 Ayacucho can pretend not to have heard.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Piero Cari

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

Squad

Fabián Palomino signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Fabián Palomino commits to Ayacucho for another 4 years.

Squad

A falling-out at Ayacucho

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

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Stefano Olaya

Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

A row about effort at Ayacucho

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

Looking ahead

A six-pointer for Ayacucho

Cienciano next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.

In brief

253 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

2 Jun 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Diego Amarilla out for 83 days

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

Match

The drought breaks for Ayacucho

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

Market

Juan Delgado asks to leave Ayacucho

“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.

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Ayacucho

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

The dugout

Lautaro Porres keeps the receipts

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

Squad

Fabián Palomino stays put

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

Match

Ayacucho find a way past Sport Huancayo

Sport Huancayo made Ayacucho work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Squad

A row about effort at Ayacucho

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

Transfer targets

Ayacucho ask about Piero Cari

A loan enquiry to Alianza Lima: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

In brief

252 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

26 May 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The wait goes on for Ayacucho

15 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.

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Ayacucho 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 Diego Amarilla

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

Match

9 matches without a goal for Ayacucho

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

Tempers go at Ayacucho

Kevin Ferreyra 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

Ayacucho come up short against Sporting Cristal

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

Squad

100 appearances for Stefano Olaya

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

Squad

Wilder Yotun signs a new deal

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

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.

In brief

251 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

19 May 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

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

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

Squad

Fabián Palomino keeps Ayacucho 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.

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Diego Amarilla

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

Match

Nowhere to hide for Ayacucho

0‑4 against Alianza Lima, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.

Match

Ayacucho are in real trouble now

Position 10, 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.

Match

8 matches without a goal for Ayacucho

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.

Squad

Kevin Ferreyra 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 Ayacucho this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

Alonso Tamariz 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.

Squad

Words at Ayacucho training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Velásquez 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

250 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

12 May 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The wait goes on for Ayacucho

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.

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Diego Amarilla

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

Match

Ayacucho cannot find the net

7 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.

Player ratings

Abraham Aguinaga was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 27. 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

Carlos Fernández 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 Ayacucho this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

A bad afternoon for Ayacucho against Alianza Atletico

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

Squad

Words at Ayacucho training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Velásquez 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 Tiziano Rocco

“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: “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.

In brief

249 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

5 May 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

12 matches without a win for Ayacucho

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

Squad

Diego Amarilla damages knee ligaments — 111 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 111 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.

Player ratings

Abraham Aguinaga beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 35. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Market

Juan Delgado asks to leave Ayacucho

“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

Ayacucho 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

Alonso Tamariz signs on for more

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

Squad

Words exchanged at Ayacucho

Simón Herrera 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

The manager’s verdict

“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Ayacucho dressing room was either.

Match

No goals between Ayacucho and Juan Aurich

Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Juan Aurich will be the happier side with the point.

In brief

248 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

28 Apr 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Anger at Ayacucho 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 knee injury of the worst kind for Diego Amarilla

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

Match

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

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

Match

5 matches without a goal for Ayacucho

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

Player ratings

Abraham Aguinaga 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

Words exchanged at Ayacucho

Carlos Fernández 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

No hiding place for Kevin Ferreyra

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

Match

UTC take the points off Ayacucho

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

Squad

A row about effort at Ayacucho

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

In brief

  • Squad José Velásquez reaches 100 appearances
  • Looking ahead A six-pointer for Ayacucho
  • The dugout The view from the dugout
247 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

21 Apr 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Diego Amarilla

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

Match

10 matches without a win for Ayacucho

The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Ayacucho are no longer polite ones.

Match

Ayacucho sink to position 10

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

Player ratings

Abraham Aguinaga beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Match

4 matches without a goal for Ayacucho

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

Squad

Kevin Ferreyra 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 Ayacucho this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Ayacucho come up short against Deportivo Municipal

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

Squad

José Velásquez 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 will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.

In brief

246 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

14 Apr 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

The knee: Diego Amarilla out for 132 days

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

Match

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

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

Match

Ayacucho 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.

Player ratings

Abraham Aguinaga 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.

Match

Ayacucho at the halfway mark

Half the programme played, position 10, 9 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.

The dugout

No hiding place for Iago Arévalo

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

Point won or two lost for Ayacucho?

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

Looking ahead

A reunion for Kevin Ferreyra

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

In brief

245 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

7 Apr 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Diego Amarilla damages knee ligaments — 139 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 139 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

The wait goes on for Ayacucho

8 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

Juan Delgado asks to leave Ayacucho

“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

Lautaro Porres keeps the receipts

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

Squad

Words exchanged at Ayacucho

Kevin Ferreyra 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.

Match

Ayacucho come up short against Melgar

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

Squad

A row about effort at Ayacucho

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

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.

Squad

Diego Amarilla slips down the pecking order

The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Diego Amarilla is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.

In brief

244 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

31 Mar 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Diego Amarilla damages knee ligaments — 146 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 146 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.

The terraces

The mood at Ayacucho 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 Ayacucho's wait for a win

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

Squad

Tempers go at Ayacucho

Kevin Ferreyra 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 Ayacucho

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

Squad

25 clean sheets for Fabián Palomino

A goalkeeper's career is counted in the games nobody scored in, and Fabián Palomino now has 25 of them across 104 appearances. Nothing about that number was luck.

The dugout

Stefano Olaya 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.

Player ratings

Abraham Aguinaga 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.

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

243 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

24 Mar 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Diego Amarilla out for 153 days

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

Player ratings

Abraham Aguinaga was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 34. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Match

Ayacucho sink to position 10

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

Match

The wait goes on for Ayacucho

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.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Diego Amarilla yet — 7.80

At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.80 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Squad

A falling-out at Ayacucho

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

Match

Cesar Vallejo take the points off Ayacucho

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

The dugout

Alonso Tamariz 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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.

In brief

242 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

17 Mar 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Abraham Aguinaga

Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

The wait goes on for Ayacucho

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

Ayacucho 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

A row about effort at Ayacucho

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

Squad

A falling-out at Ayacucho

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

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.

The dugout

Ayacucho pick somebody else ahead of José Velásquez

There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.

Match

Ayacucho and Sport Huancayo cancel each other out

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

The dugout

Sebastián Amaya left out for tactical reasons at Ayacucho

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

241 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

10 Mar 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

The interim tag comes off Interim Coach

Ayacucho interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Interim Coach keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.

Match

The small margins put Ayacucho out

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

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Iago Arévalo

Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

4 matches without a win for Ayacucho

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

Squad

Tempers go at Ayacucho

Carlos Fernández 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

Sporting Cristal take the points off Ayacucho

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

Squad

Words at Ayacucho training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Velásquez 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’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

Kevin Ferreyra 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

240 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

3 Mar 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The terraces

Anger at Ayacucho 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

Fabián Palomino 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Ayacucho

Kevin Ferreyra 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 Juan Delgado at his very best

Marked 8.01. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ayacucho.

Squad

100 appearances for Fabián Palomino

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

Match

Two points walk out of the ground

Level with 90 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Ayacucho had all but put away. Alianza Lima will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.

Player ratings

Abraham Aguinaga 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

A step back for Juan Delgado at Ayacucho

Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.

Market

Jesús Rodríguez is free to find somewhere else

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

In brief

239 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

24 Feb 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Abraham Aguinaga

Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

A row about effort at Ayacucho

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

The dugout

Mauro Muhlethaler 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.

Squad

Sebastián Amaya signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sebastián Amaya and Ayacucho agree another 1 years.

Player ratings

Álex Osorio stands above it all

Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.45 on the card, and the Ayacucho support went home talking about one name.

The dugout

Somebody else is better right now than Carlos Fernández

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.

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.

Match

Ayacucho and Alianza Atletico cancel each other out

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

Looking ahead

Alonso Tamariz faces his old club

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

In brief

238 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

17 Feb 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

The dugout

Mauro Muhlethaler says Ayacucho 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.

Match

The drought breaks for Ayacucho

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

Squad

A falling-out at Ayacucho

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

Match

Stefano Olaya the difference as Ayacucho beat Juan Aurich

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

Squad

Words at Ayacucho training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Velásquez 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 Abraham Aguinaga

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

Player ratings

Mauro Muhlethaler was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 15. 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

“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.

The dugout

No hiding place for Lautaro Porres

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

In brief

237 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

10 Feb 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Abraham Aguinaga

Successful dribbles: 50. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

The wait goes on for Ayacucho

11 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 Ayacucho

Kevin Ferreyra 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

Ayacucho still without a manager

9 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.

Match

3 matches without a goal for Ayacucho

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.

Player ratings

The afternoon belonged to Juan Delgado

A mark of 7.28, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Ayacucho dressing room was either.

The dugout

Iván Spoljaric 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.

Match

Ayacucho draw a blank against UTC

The crowd waited for a goal that never came. UTC defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.

In brief

236 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

3 Feb 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Ayacucho part company with Aldo Lapadula

The statement thanked him for his efforts and wished him well, in that order and in about that many words. The search begins immediately.

The terraces

Anger at Ayacucho 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 Ayacucho's wait for a win

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

Boardroom

A stranger takes charge at Ayacucho

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 takes charge at Ayacucho

“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.

Squad

Kevin Ferreyra signs on for more

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

Squad

Words exchanged at Ayacucho

Carlos Fernández 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 Ayacucho

10 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.

Match

Deportivo Municipal take the points off Ayacucho

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

In brief

235 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

27 Jan 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Words at Ayacucho training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Velásquez 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

Simón Herrera 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 Ayacucho this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

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The dugout

Sebasthian García gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Sebasthian García is on it.

The dugout

The manager makes Iván Spoljaric a promise

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

Squad

Lautaro Porres has seen what the next man earns

Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Ayacucho that is a harder question to answer.

In brief

234 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

20 Jan 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Carlos Fernández 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 Ayacucho this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Álex Osorio stays put

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

The dugout

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In brief

233 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

13 Jan 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Ayacucho

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

Market

Juan Delgado 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 Ayacucho can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Words exchanged at Ayacucho

Kevin Ferreyra 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

José Velásquez 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

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The dugout

The manager makes an example of Iván Spoljaric

“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

232 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

6 Jan 2031
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

The mood at Ayacucho 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

Aldo Lapadula has until the next board meeting

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

Match

Ayacucho sink to position 10

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

Boardroom

Emergency meeting at Ayacucho

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.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Ryu Yabiku rejects the move

Ayacucho had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Melgar, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Transfer targets

Cesar Vallejo tell Ayacucho: Valentín Cerrudo 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

Too dear: Ayacucho walk away from Geray Motta

$32.0K was the most the club would pay and Alianza Lima 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.

Squad

José Velásquez 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 Álex Osorio

“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

231 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

30 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Transfer targets

No thanks: Christian Carrillo rejects the move

Ayacucho had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Alianza Lima, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Gonzalo Aguirre

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

Transfer targets

Ayacucho make their move for Geray Motta

$32.0K on the table at Alianza Lima. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Boardroom

Ayacucho agree a free transfer for Victor Polo

Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.

Squad

A row about effort at Ayacucho

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

Squad

Words exchanged at Ayacucho

José Velásquez 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

No hiding place for Kevin Ferreyra

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

Squad

Mauro Muhlethaler signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mauro Muhlethaler commits to Ayacucho for another 2 years.

Transfer targets

Ayacucho try to borrow Ryu Yabiku

Melgar 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

230 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

23 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A falling-out at Ayacucho

Kevin Ferreyra 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 Ayacucho

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

Transfer targets

Door shut on Facundo Kalinger

Ayacucho asked and Alianza Lima 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

Sebastián Amaya signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Sebastián Amaya commits to Ayacucho for another 1 years.

The dugout

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Squad

The formation has left Iago Arévalo behind

Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Ayacucho will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.

In brief

229 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

16 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Ayacucho

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

Market

Juan Delgado 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 Ayacucho, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Tempers go at Ayacucho

Carlos Fernández 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 move Iago Arévalo 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. Iago Arévalo is living that version at Ayacucho, and it tends to show in the first month.

Squad

A row about effort at Ayacucho

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

Squad

Laisenia Jale wants to go home

“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Ayacucho know it.

Transfer targets

Ayacucho ask about Gonzalo Aguirre

A loan enquiry to Cienciano: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

Transfer targets

Ayacucho ask about Facundo Kalinger

A loan enquiry to Alianza Lima: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

Transfer targets

Ayacucho ask about Juan Garces

A loan enquiry to Alianza Lima: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

In brief

228 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

9 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

The mood at Ayacucho 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

Every point is an argument now for Ayacucho

Position 10 and 14 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

Fee done, terms next for Luis Ramos

Ayacucho and Alianza Lima have settled on $2.2M. 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 Ayacucho

Simón Herrera 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

A loan move for Aldo Garces is in the works

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

The dugout

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Market

Ayacucho put Juan Delgado up for sale

The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Juan Delgado may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.

Squad

Alonso Tamariz is doing the arithmetic

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

Market

Fernando Tapia leaves for nothing

Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Fernando Tapia leaves Ayacucho the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.

In brief

227 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

2 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Aldo Lapadula has until the next board meeting

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

Boardroom

The Ayacucho 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

A falling-out at Ayacucho

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

Transfer targets

Ayacucho rebuffed over Dilan Gerez

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

Squad

A row about effort at Ayacucho

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

Transfer targets

Ayacucho try to borrow Nelson Trauco

Alianza Lima 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.

The dugout

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The dugout

Diego Amarilla loses the manager who believed in him

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

The dugout

When it matters, Sebasthian García 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

226 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

25 Nov 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A falling-out at Ayacucho

Jorge Bosmediano 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 Ayacucho training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Álex Osorio 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

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The dugout

A door opens for Iván Spoljaric

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.

The dugout

Lautaro Porres 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 Ayacucho, and both men came out saying it was fine.

The dugout

The manager comes out for Stefano Olaya

Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Stefano Olaya has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.

In brief

225 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

18 Nov 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Ayacucho

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

Market

Juan Delgado asks to leave Ayacucho

“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

Words exchanged at Ayacucho

Jorge Bosmediano 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

Fabrizzio Franco signs on for more

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

The dugout

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The dugout

Álex Osorio 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

224 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

11 Nov 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Anger at Ayacucho 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

Ayacucho sink to position 10

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

Squad

Tempers go at Ayacucho

Kevin Ferreyra 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 Ayacucho

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

The dugout

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The dugout

Álex Osorio 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 Álex Osorio trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

223 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

4 Nov 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Ayacucho put Aldo Lapadula 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.

Boardroom

The Ayacucho 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

Stefano Olaya stays put

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

Squad

Jorge Bosmediano 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 Ayacucho this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Ayacucho

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

The dugout

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Squad

Sebastián Amaya is no longer first choice

The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Sebastián Amaya has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Fabrizzio Franco

“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

Sebasthian García has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Ayacucho 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

222 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

28 Oct 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Sebastián Amaya signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Sebastián Amaya commits to Ayacucho for another 1 years.

The dugout

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The dugout

Sebastián Amaya 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 Ayacucho, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

221 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

21 Oct 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Ayacucho

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

Market

Juan Delgado asks to leave Ayacucho

“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

Words at Ayacucho training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Álex Osorio 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 Ayacucho

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

The dugout

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The dugout

Sebastián Amaya 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 Sebastián Amaya trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

220 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

14 Oct 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

The mood at Ayacucho 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

Ayacucho are in real trouble now

Position 10, 14 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 falling-out at Ayacucho

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

Squad

Home is on Laisenia Jale's mind

“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Ayacucho are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

The dugout

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The dugout

No hiding place for Lautaro Porres

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

In brief

219 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

7 Oct 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Ayacucho put Aldo Lapadula 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.

Boardroom

The Ayacucho 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

Diego Amarilla signs on for more

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

Squad

Tempers go at Ayacucho

Jorge Bosmediano 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

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The dugout

The manager's exit leaves Diego Amarilla exposed

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

The dugout

Sebasthian García has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Ayacucho 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.

Squad

Nerves in the Ayacucho squad

Jorge Bosmediano has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.

The dugout

The manager makes Iván Spoljaric a promise

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

In brief

218 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

30 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Words exchanged at Ayacucho

Jorge Bosmediano 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 Ayacucho

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

The dugout

No hiding place for Álex Osorio

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

The dugout

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The dugout

Carlos Fernández 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.

The dugout

The manager plants his flag on Stefano Olaya

“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Stefano Olaya’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.

In brief

217 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

23 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the Ayacucho boardroom

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

Squad

A falling-out at Ayacucho

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

The dugout

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news_b_old_wounds_reopened

In brief

216 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

16 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

The mood at Ayacucho 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

Ayacucho sink to position 10

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

Squad

Jorge Bosmediano 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 Ayacucho this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

215 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

9 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

The dugout

Sebastián Amaya says Ayacucho 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

Jorge Bosmediano stays put

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

The dugout

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The dugout

Sebasthian García gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Sebasthian García is on it.

Squad

International call for Fabián Palomino

Fabián Palomino joins up with his country. Ayacucho lose him for the window and would like him back in one piece.

Squad

Nerves in the Ayacucho squad

Alonso Tamariz has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.

In brief

214 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

2 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Ayacucho put Aldo Lapadula 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.

Boardroom

The Ayacucho 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

Jorge Bosmediano signs on for more

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

Squad

Words exchanged at Ayacucho

Simón Herrera 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

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The dugout

Diego Amarilla 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 Diego Amarilla trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

No hiding place for Iván Spoljaric

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

Squad

Sebastián Amaya is not saying it is over

“Ask me in the summer. I will know before anybody else does.” He is 34 with 21 appearances behind him, and Ayacucho have to plan for both answers.

Squad

Jorge Bosmediano is doing the arithmetic

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

In brief

213 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

26 Aug 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Ayacucho

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

Squad

Carlos Fernández 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 Ayacucho this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

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In brief

212 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

19 Aug 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Anger at Ayacucho 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

Ayacucho sink to position 10

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

The dugout

Lautaro Porres: 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.” Ayacucho have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

A muscle injury and 18 days out for Jorge Bosmediano

The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Ayacucho will quote 18 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.

Squad

Jorge Bosmediano 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 Ayacucho this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Ayacucho lose José Velásquez

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

In brief

211 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

12 Aug 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Tempers go at Ayacucho

Jorge Bosmediano 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

The manager makes an example of Carlos 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.

Squad

Ayacucho count the cost of losing Paolo Hurtado

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

Squad

Laisenia Jale wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ayacucho can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

The dugout

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The dugout

When it matters, Sebasthian García 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

210 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

5 Aug 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Ayacucho put Aldo Lapadula 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.

The dugout

Carlos Fernández says Ayacucho 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.

Boardroom

Emergency meeting at Ayacucho

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

Words exchanged at Ayacucho

Kevin Ferreyra 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

Diego Amarilla without the man who signed him

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

Squad

Fabrizzio Franco slips down the pecking order

The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Fabrizzio Franco is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.

The dugout

Álex Osorio 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.

The dugout

Fabrizzio Franco 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.

Squad

Ayacucho have started building around Jesús Rodríguez

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

209 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

29 Jul 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Renato Guerrero damages knee ligaments — 16 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 16 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.

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the Ayacucho boardroom

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

The dugout

Jime Tuesta keeps the receipts

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

In brief

208 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

22 Jul 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Anger at Ayacucho 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

16 days out for Abraham Aguinaga after a fracture

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

Squad

The knee: Renato Guerrero out for 23 days

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

Match

Ayacucho sink to position 10

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

Boardroom

Ayacucho close the window on a squad of their own making

1 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.

Transfer targets

Jordan Quispe turns down Ayacucho

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Cienciano keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Squad

Ayacucho count the cost of losing José Velásquez

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

Transfer targets

A loan move for Nelson Trauco is in the works

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

The dugout

Jime Tuesta 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 Ayacucho, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

207 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

15 Jul 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A fracture rules Abraham Aguinaga out for 23 days

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

Squad

Renato Guerrero damages knee ligaments — 30 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 30 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.

Transfer targets

Alexander Guevara turns down Ayacucho

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Deportivo Municipal keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Transfer targets

Ayacucho rebuffed over Rafael Livia

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

Squad

Tempers go at Ayacucho

Simón Herrera 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

Diego Amarilla 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.

The dugout

Sebasthian García has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Ayacucho 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.

Squad

Jorge Bosmediano is doing the arithmetic

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

Market

Alejandro Encina placed on the list

Ayacucho have made Alejandro Encina available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.

In brief

206 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

8 Jul 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Abraham Aguinaga breaks a bone — 30 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

The knee: Renato Guerrero out for 37 days

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

Boardroom

Ayacucho spell it out for Aldo Lapadula

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

Boardroom

Crisis meeting at Ayacucho

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.

Transfer targets

Deval Muñóz turns down Ayacucho

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Melgar keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Squad

Carlos Fernández signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Carlos Fernández commits to Ayacucho for another 2 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Ayacucho

Carlos Fernández 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

Ayacucho try to borrow Renato Ruidiaz

Melgar 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.

Boardroom

7 new boys at the Ayacucho academy

Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.

In brief

205 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

1 Jul 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A fracture rules Abraham Aguinaga out for 37 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ayacucho 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 Ayacucho

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

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Ayacucho

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

Match

Ayacucho finish in position 10

14 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.

Transfer targets

Luis Mascareño due for a Ayacucho medical

Everything agreed with Cienciano, 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 Ayacucho

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

Market

Alejandro Encina comes home

The shirt still fits. Alejandro Encina is back at Ayacucho, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.

Squad

Words at Ayacucho training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Álex Osorio 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 Ayacucho against Universitario

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

In brief

204 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

24 Jun 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Anger at Ayacucho 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 Abraham Aguinaga out for 44 days

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

Match

Ayacucho are in real trouble now

Position 10, 14 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.

Match

The wait goes on for Ayacucho

8 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.

Transfer targets

Nelson Trauco is a medical away from Ayacucho

The deal with Alianza Lima is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.

Squad

Jorge Bosmediano 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 Ayacucho this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

A bad afternoon for Ayacucho against Melgar

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

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Jorge Bosmediano

“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

Aldo Lapadula: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

In brief

203 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

17 Jun 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Abraham Aguinaga breaks a bone — 51 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Match

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

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

Market

a squad player 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 Ayacucho, and it is not being withdrawn.

Transfer targets

Rafael Livia is a medical away from Ayacucho

The deal with Juan Aurich is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.

Transfer targets

Ryu Yabiku will not be coming to Ayacucho

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Melgar is saying, and nobody at Ayacucho is enjoying the guessing.

Squad

Tempers go at Ayacucho

Kevin Ferreyra 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

Door shut on Nelson Flores

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

Match

The goals have deserted Ayacucho

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

Squad

Álex Osorio 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

202 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

10 Jun 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Kevin Ferreyra beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 34. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Match

6 matches without a win for Ayacucho

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

Transfer targets

Marcelo Ballesteros is a medical away from Ayacucho

The deal with UTC is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.

Transfer targets

Alexander Guevara will not be coming to Ayacucho

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Deportivo Municipal is saying, and nobody at Ayacucho is enjoying the guessing.

Squad

Words exchanged at Ayacucho

Jorge Bosmediano 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 Ayacucho training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Álex Osorio 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

Home is on Laisenia Jale's mind

“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Ayacucho are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

The dugout

Ayacucho pick somebody else ahead of Carlos Fernández

There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Jime Tuesta

“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

201 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

3 Jun 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Boardroom

Ayacucho spell it out for Aldo Lapadula

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

Boardroom

Emergency meeting at Ayacucho

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 Ayacucho boardroom

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

Match

The wait goes on for Ayacucho

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.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Emilio Figueredo

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

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Álex Osorio

“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

The team sheet said everything about Carlos Fernández

Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Carlos Fernández.

Transfer targets

Ayacucho ask about Alexander Guevara

A loan enquiry to Deportivo Municipal: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Ryu Yabiku is in the works

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

In brief

200 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

27 May 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Ayacucho 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.

Match

The wait goes on for Ayacucho

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

Álex Osorio 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

Ayacucho come up short against Sporting Cristal

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

The dugout

Diego Amarilla 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.

Squad

Abraham Aguinaga reaches 100 appearances

100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.

The dugout

Aldo Lapadula: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

Squad

Simón Herrera 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 Ayacucho this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Kevin Ferreyra

Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

In brief

199 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

20 May 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Ayacucho taken apart

0‑3 to Alianza Lima, 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.

Match

Ayacucho sink to position 10

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

Squad

Words exchanged at Ayacucho

Carlos Fernández 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.

Match

3 matches without a goal for Ayacucho

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.

Squad

Words at Ayacucho training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Álex Osorio 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

No hiding place for Fabián Palomino

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

Boardroom

Doors closed at Ayacucho

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 Aldo Lapadula to a room that had heard them before.

The dugout

Diego Amarilla 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 Ayacucho, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

198 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

13 May 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Words exchanged at Ayacucho

Kevin Ferreyra 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.

Match

Ayacucho come up short against Alianza Atletico

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

Player ratings

Stefano Olaya was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 16. 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 view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Aldo Lapadula to a room that had heard them before.

Looking ahead

Ayacucho take on the side everybody is chasing

Alianza Lima arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.

Looking ahead

Alonso Tamariz goes back to face Alianza Lima

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

The dugout

Sebasthian García gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Sebasthian García is on it.

The dugout

No place in the plan for Simón Herrera

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.

Squad

The room hears from Jorge Bosmediano

“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the Ayacucho squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.

In brief

197 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

6 May 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Boardroom

Ayacucho spell it out for Aldo Lapadula

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

Boardroom

Crisis meeting at Ayacucho

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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Abraham Aguinaga

Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

A falling-out at Ayacucho

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

Squad

Álex Osorio 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

Álex Osorio 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.

Squad

Richard Herrera is the month’s best young player

At 19 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Ayacucho will try not to make too much of it.

The dugout

Ayacucho keep their word to Rodrigo Dioses

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.

Squad

Juan Delgado 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

196 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

29 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

The terraces

The mood at Ayacucho 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

Kevin Ferreyra 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 Ayacucho this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Álex Osorio 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

Ayacucho find a way past UTC

UTC made Ayacucho work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Player ratings

Diego Amarilla stands above it all

Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.92 on the card, and the Ayacucho support went home talking about one name.

The dugout

A satisfied Aldo Lapadula

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

The dugout

Carlos Fernández 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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Iván Spoljaric

“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

Abraham Aguinaga beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 12. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

In brief

195 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

22 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

Ayacucho end the wait against Deportivo Municipal

It had gone 49 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.

Player ratings

Abraham Aguinaga 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 Ayacucho

Jorge Bosmediano 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

Ayacucho get the job done against Deportivo Municipal

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

Looking ahead

Ayacucho face UTC in the game that matters most

Two sides from the bottom of the table, three points, and an afternoon that will be described afterwards as a relegation decider by whoever loses it.

Player ratings

Nobody on the pitch touched Rodrigo Dioses

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

The dugout

The form table has caught Carlos Fernández

Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Aldo Lapadula, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.

The dugout

No hiding place for Jime Tuesta

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

In brief

194 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

15 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The wait goes on for Ayacucho

49 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

Ayacucho sink to position 12

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

Match

3 matches without a goal for Ayacucho

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.

Squad

Álex Osorio 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

Ayacucho come up short against Universitario

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

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Fabián Palomino

“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

Halfway: Ayacucho sit in position 12

4 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.

The dugout

Aldo Lapadula faces the questions

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

Looking ahead

Kevin Ferreyra faces his old club

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

In brief

193 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

8 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

48 matches without a win for Ayacucho

The run now stands at 48, and the questions being asked around Ayacucho are no longer polite ones.

Boardroom

Aldo Lapadula has until the next board meeting

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

Boardroom

The Ayacucho 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

A row about effort at Ayacucho

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

The dugout

No hiding place for Álex Osorio

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

Squad

A falling-out at Ayacucho

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

Player ratings

Juan Delgado shuts the door

Defensive actions: 16, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.

Squad

Home is on Laisenia Jale's mind

“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Ayacucho are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

Squad

Wilder Caceda 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

192 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

1 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

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

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

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Ayacucho 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 falling-out at Ayacucho

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

The dugout

Diego Amarilla 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.

Market

Fabrizzio Franco is free to find somewhere else

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

The dugout

The manager's exit leaves Diego Amarilla exposed

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

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Aldo Lapadula 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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Stefano Olaya

Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

Point won or two lost for Ayacucho?

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

In brief

191 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

25 Mar 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

46 matches without a win for Ayacucho

The run now stands at 46, and the questions being asked around Ayacucho are no longer polite ones.

Match

A 2-goal lead gone for Ayacucho

It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Cesar Vallejo kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Ayacucho will be asked about the last half hour all week.

Player ratings

Royer Salcedo runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Player ratings

Stefano Olaya has a hand in both — 7.87

One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.87, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.

Squad

Words exchanged at Ayacucho

Carlos Fernández 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 Ayacucho training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Ferreyra 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 Kevin Ferreyra

“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

Ayacucho and Cesar Vallejo take a point apiece

It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

The dugout

Juan Delgado 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

190 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

18 Mar 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The wait goes on for Ayacucho

45 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

Ayacucho cannot find the net

18 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

The knee: Pedro Yotun out for 20 days

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

Match

Ayacucho sink to position 12

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

Match

A hiding for Ayacucho

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

Squad

Words exchanged at Ayacucho

Jorge Bosmediano 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 Ayacucho

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

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Rodrigo Dioses

“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 Ayacucho

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

189 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

11 Mar 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

44 matches without a win for Ayacucho

The run now stands at 44, and the questions being asked around Ayacucho are no longer polite ones.

Match

The goals have deserted Ayacucho

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

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Pedro Yotun

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

Match

The small margins put Ayacucho out

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

Squad

Lautaro Porres is the hero from the spot

A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Lautaro Porres: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.

The dugout

Iván Spoljaric says Ayacucho 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 Ayacucho

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

Match

A bad afternoon for Ayacucho against Sporting Cristal

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

Player ratings

Diego Amarilla fails from the spot

Twelve yards and the whole ground holding its breath, and it did not go in. He will put his name down for the next one, which is the only thing to do.

In brief

188 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

4 Mar 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

42 matches without a win for Ayacucho

The run now stands at 42, and the questions being asked around Ayacucho are no longer polite ones.

Match

15 matches without a goal for Ayacucho

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 15 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

The terraces

Anger at Ayacucho 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 knee injury of the worst kind for Pedro Yotun

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

Squad

Jorge Bosmediano 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 Ayacucho this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Ayacucho

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

Match

Alianza Lima take the points off Ayacucho

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

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Jorge Bosmediano

“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

Aldo Lapadula faces the questions

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

In brief

187 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

25 Feb 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

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

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

Match

Ayacucho cannot find the net

14 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 knee injury of the worst kind for Pedro Yotun

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

Match

A bad afternoon for Ayacucho against Alianza Atletico

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

Player ratings

Abraham Aguinaga beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Words at Ayacucho training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Velásquez 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

Aldo Lapadula faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Aldo Lapadula after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

The dugout

Fabrizzio Franco 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.

Looking ahead

The leaders are next for Ayacucho

Alianza Lima top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.

In brief

186 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

18 Feb 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

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

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

Match

13 matches without a goal for Ayacucho

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 13 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Jime Tuesta

Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

José Velásquez 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 Ayacucho this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Ayacucho come up short against Juan Aurich

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

The dugout

Fabián Palomino 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

Aldo Lapadula 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

Laisenia Jale wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ayacucho can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

Market

No place for Lautaro Porres in the plan

“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Lautaro Porres has his answer from Ayacucho; what he does with it is the next window’s story.

In brief

185 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

11 Feb 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

The wait goes on for Ayacucho

39 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 Ayacucho

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

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Abraham Aguinaga

Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

A falling-out at Ayacucho

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

Squad

Álex Osorio stays put

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

Squad

A row about effort at Ayacucho

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

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Ayacucho

7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.

Player ratings

Jorge Bosmediano takes the honours

Marked 7.00 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Ayacucho had the best player on the pitch.

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.” Aldo Lapadula chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.

In brief

184 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

4 Feb 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The wait goes on for Ayacucho

38 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.

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Ayacucho 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.

Match

11 matches without a goal for Ayacucho

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 11 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

Squad

Jorge Bosmediano signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jorge Bosmediano commits to Ayacucho for another 2 years.

Squad

A falling-out at Ayacucho

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

Boardroom

Graduation day at Ayacucho

7 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.

Market

One of our own: Nelson Valera joins the Ayacucho first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Nelson Valera 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: Fernando Benavente joins the Ayacucho first team

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

Market

Ayacucho promote Carlos Reyna from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Carlos Reyna 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

183 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

28 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Words exchanged at Ayacucho

Jorge Bosmediano 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

Jorge Bosmediano keeps his manager's vote

The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Jorge Bosmediano plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.

Squad

The training reports on Rodrigo Cacho Sousa are not good

A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.

In brief

182 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

21 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Ayacucho are in real trouble now

Position 12, 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

Tempers go at Ayacucho

Kevin Ferreyra 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

The window shuts on the Fabrizzio Orozco deal

Ayacucho ran out of time with Cienciano. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.

Squad

Words at Ayacucho training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Velásquez 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

Álex Osorio 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

The Ayacucho production line keeps running

36 graduates out of an academy now rated 7 out of 20. Clubs this size survive on exactly that, and the town knows every name.

In brief

181 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

14 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the Ayacucho boardroom

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

Squad

Jorge Bosmediano 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 Ayacucho this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets

The window shuts on the Mariano Bareiro deal

Ayacucho ran out of time with Universitario. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.

Squad

A row about effort at Ayacucho

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

Squad

Ayacucho are still strangers to each other

9 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.

The dugout

No hiding place for Fabrizzio Franco

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

In brief

180 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

7 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Anger at Ayacucho 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.

Boardroom

Ayacucho put Aldo Lapadula 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.

Boardroom

Crisis meeting at Ayacucho

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.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Fabrizzio Orozco

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

Transfer targets

Alianza Lima tell Ayacucho: Valentino Huertas 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

Emiliano Amor stays at Universitario as time runs out

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

The dugout

The manager's exit leaves Juan Delgado exposed

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

Squad

A promotion for Fabrizzio Franco

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. Fabrizzio Franco has moved up it.

Squad

Jorge Bosmediano is doing the arithmetic

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

In brief

179 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

31 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Transfer targets

Ayacucho agree $160.0K for Emiliano Amor

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

Transfer targets

Álvaro Guevara is a medical away from Ayacucho

The deal with Alianza Atletico is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.

Transfer targets

Ayacucho rebuffed over Ryu Yabiku

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

Squad

A row about effort at Ayacucho

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

Squad

Words exchanged at Ayacucho

Simón Herrera 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

The penny has dropped for Juan Delgado

He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Ayacucho the difference is visible from the back of the stand.

In brief

178 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

24 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Ayacucho are in real trouble now

Position 12, 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.

Transfer targets

Mariano Bareiro is a medical away from Ayacucho

The deal with Universitario is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.

Squad

Words exchanged at Ayacucho

Carlos Fernández 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

Door shut on Deval Muñóz

Ayacucho asked and Melgar 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

A row about effort at Ayacucho

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

Squad

Lautaro Porres stays put

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

In brief

177 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

17 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

The scrutiny sharpens at Ayacucho

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

Market

As if he never left: Rodrigo Dioses returns

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

Squad

Kevin Ferreyra 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 Ayacucho this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

a squad player arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. a squad player has, at Ayacucho, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Emiliano Amor

Ayacucho asked and Universitario 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

Fabrizzio Franco stays put

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

Squad

Ayacucho are still strangers to each other

9 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Nelson Trauco is in the works

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

Transfer targets

Ayacucho ask about Horacio Lapadula

A loan enquiry to Melgar: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

In brief

176 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

10 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Supporters organise against the Ayacucho 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.

Transfer targets

Ayacucho agree $380.0K for Mariano Bareiro

The clubs have shaken hands with Universitario; 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 Ayacucho

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

Transfer targets

Alianza Lima tell Ayacucho: Valentino Huertas 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 Ayacucho

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

Squad

Álex Osorio signs on for more

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

Market

Ayacucho sign Rafael Ferraresi, one for the future

Rafael Ferraresi is 17, and Ayacucho have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.

Squad

Álex Osorio is a square peg at Ayacucho

The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.

The dugout

Ayacucho keep their word to Rafael Ferraresi

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.

In brief

175 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

3 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Aldo Lapadula has until the next board meeting

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

Boardroom

Emergency meeting at Ayacucho

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

Ayacucho count the cost of losing Carlos Fernández

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

Squad

Carlos Fernández signs on for more

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

Squad

Words exchanged at Ayacucho

Kevin Ferreyra 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

Alianza Lima tell Ayacucho: Aníbal Paz 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

A loan move for Deval Muñóz is in the works

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

Transfer targets

Ayacucho try to borrow Jordan Romero

Juan Aurich 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.

The dugout

The manager's exit leaves Juan Neira exposed

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

In brief

174 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

26 Nov 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Ayacucho are in real trouble now

Position 12, 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

Tempers go at Ayacucho

Jorge Bosmediano 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

The date has moved again for Jorge Bosmediano

Another 0 days, and a comeback that has now been promised more than once. Nobody in the medical room is putting a fresh date in writing.

In brief

173 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

19 Nov 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

The silence upstairs is getting loud at Ayacucho

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

The dugout

Pietro Flores keeps his manager's vote

The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Pietro Flores plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.

Squad

Paolo Caceda back in training

A welcome sight on the training pitch: Paolo Caceda has come through recovery and is pushing for a place again.

172 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

12 Nov 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

The mood at Ayacucho 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 falling-out at Ayacucho

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

Squad

Juan Delgado can feel the drop

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

In brief

171 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

5 Nov 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Boardroom

Aldo Lapadula has until the next board meeting

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

Boardroom

The Ayacucho 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

Fabián Palomino signs a new deal

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

Squad

Tempers go at Ayacucho

Carlos Fernández 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

Juan Delgado loses the manager who believed in him

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

Squad

Alonso Tamariz loses the armband

The captaincy has been taken off Alonso Tamariz. Ayacucho will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.

In brief

170 Edition

The Ayacucho Post

29 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Jorge Bosmediano

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

Match

Ayacucho are in real trouble now

Position 12, 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

Tempers go at Ayacucho

Kevin Ferreyra 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

The manager makes an example of Carlos 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.

Boardroom

The Ayacucho academy earns its keep

36 graduates, from a department now rated 7 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.

Squad

Questions about Iván Spoljaric on the training pitch

The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.

In brief