Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cienciano will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Ayacucho for Carlos Ayasta was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
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.
Universitario paid $440.0K and Cienciano took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sport Huancayo have kept their man, and Cienciano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cienciano will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Sporting Cristal for Rotceh Aguilar was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cienciano have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Renzo Saravia 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.
“I watch every Cienciano game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Alianza Lima runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 47 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
At 34, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cienciano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Claudio Núñez 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cienciano will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Christofer Ramírez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cienciano the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cienciano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Cesar Vallejo in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cienciano will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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.
Level with 87 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Cienciano had all but put away. Sporting Cristal will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Claudio Núñez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It needed Tobías Medina to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Sporting Cristal, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cienciano will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Juan Romagnoli 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 dugout8 May 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Alexander Guerrero to a room that had heard them before.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Sporting Cristal in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
In brief
The dugoutKevin Becerra has become a man the manager trusts
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cienciano will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings1 May 2028
A brace, and Ray Sandoval takes the afternoon — 8.50
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ray Sandoval provided it, and the 8.50 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cienciano is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
15 combined actions and 7.20. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Juan Romagnoli 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 92. Alianza Atletico had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout1 May 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Juan Romagnoli's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 83 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
1 for Renzo Saravia, marked 7.66, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cienciano is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Renzo Saravia had Cienciano level again within 4 minutes, and Juan Aurich never got to play with a lead at all.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cienciano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Position 7, 14 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Claudio Núñez 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 90 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 89th, and UTC spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Marked 8.21 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cienciano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Claudio Núñez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
5 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 dugout17 Apr 2028
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.” Alexander Guerrero, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cienciano will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Claudio Núñez 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.
A point taken on 86 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Alexander Guerrero after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Cienciano has been clear about where Maximiliano Amondarain stands, which is more than many ever get.
UTC next, and one man in the Cienciano dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
2‑5 to Universitario, 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cienciano will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cienciano they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
7 goals in one match, Cristian Souza on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Cienciano and Universitario.
Juan Romagnoli was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Claudio Núñez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑5 Alexander Guerrero left the room before anybody could ask which.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cienciano will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cienciano is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cienciano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Claudio Núñez 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.
Universitario next, and one man in the Cienciano dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Nobody at Cienciano 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.
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 Arnaldo Román has written the date down.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Nadhir Colunga scored in the 89th minute, Melgar had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Cienciano took the lot.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cienciano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Santiago Arias was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
5 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 dugout20 Mar 2028
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.” Alexander Guerrero, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
“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 Cienciano, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Cristian Souza. 2‑1 against Deportivo Municipal, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Cienciano is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Juan Romagnoli and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Claudio Núñez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Rotceh Aguilar scored, was marked 7.55, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nadhir Colunga will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cienciano the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Juan Romagnoli was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Claudio Núñez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Alexander Guerrero left the room before anybody could ask which.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Claudio Núñez 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cienciano they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A 2‑1 win over Sport Huancayo, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago Arias 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Alexander Guerrero could afford to be generous.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cienciano can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cienciano have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Sporting Cristal left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Claudio Núñez 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.
Freddy Yovera 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.
1‑4 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 7 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Juan Romagnoli 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Claudio Núñez 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.
Boardroom14 Feb 2028
Nobody left the Cienciano dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cienciano they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cienciano can pretend not to have heard.
The shirt still fits. Thiago Urquiza is back at Cienciano, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
5 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.
Claudio Núñez 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cienciano they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Claudio Núñez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago Arias 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.
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Cienciano were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cienciano will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cienciano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Cienciano. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Rotceh Aguilar signs something — a contract at Cienciano or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Nadhir Colunga has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
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.
Claudio Núñez 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 dugout17 Jan 2028
Duván Zárate 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cienciano will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cienciano is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The deal that would have taken Jefferson Gutiérrez to Juan Aurich has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Cienciano with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Universitario have kept their man, and Cienciano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Cienciano will try again when the window opens; Sport Huancayo may not be selling by then.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cienciano will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer from Sporting Cristal for Rotceh Aguilar was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cienciano they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The offer went to Sport Huancayo this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Alianza Lima have kept their man, and Cienciano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Renzo Saravia 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.
Maximiliano Amondarain 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cienciano will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cienciano they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Cienciano offered $92.0K; Sport Huancayo said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Juan Romagnoli and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Claudio Núñez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 61 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Cienciano have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cienciano can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Cesar Vallejo for Jefferson Gutiérrez was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Everything agreed with Universitario, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The offer went to Sport Huancayo this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Cienciano asked and Libertad said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Juan Romagnoli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Claudio Núñez 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cienciano will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Cienciano have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cienciano they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Universitario have accepted the money. What Cienciano do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 34 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Cienciano is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 77 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Estudiantes have kept their man, and Cienciano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Juan Romagnoli 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Claudio Núñez 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.
Boca Juniors 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Rotceh Aguilar has his answer from Cienciano; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cienciano will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Juan Romagnoli and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Claudio Núñez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Jefferson Gutiérrez and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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 Álvaro Rojas is on it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 93 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Nobody at Cienciano 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Cienciano. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 100 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cienciano they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 107 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Juan Romagnoli was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Claudio Núñez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutJosé Motta is still being punished for one mistake
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 114 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cienciano can pretend not to have heard.
Claudio Núñez 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sebastián Cavero and Cienciano agree another 4 years.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cienciano will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Juan Romagnoli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Claudio Núñez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andy Polar, and the manager let it.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Duván Zárate 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.
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 Brayan Velarde is on it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cienciano will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nadhir Colunga will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cienciano the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cienciano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Claudio Núñez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Cienciano, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cienciano will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Claudio Núñez 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maximiliano Amondarain 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.
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.
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 Tarek Carranza is on it.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Cienciano will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cienciano will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alejandro Hohberg and Cienciano agree another 2 years.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Claudio Núñez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every 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 Álvaro Rojas is on it.
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cienciano lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Claudio Núñez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cienciano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Cienciano has been clear about where Duván Zárate stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cienciano lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cienciano is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cienciano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Becerra 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 words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
Juan Romagnoli 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Claudio Núñez 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nadhir Colunga trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marlon Ugarte, and the manager let it.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
José Motta 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.
“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 Cienciano, and it is not being withdrawn.
Juan Romagnoli and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Cienciano, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Cienciano know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Juan Romagnoli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Becerra 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.
“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 dugout30 Aug 2027
Duván Zárate 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.
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
The dugoutAndy Polar asks for a word with the manager
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cienciano will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cienciano they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cienciano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Claudio Núñez 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Claudio Núñez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Rotceh Aguilar 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maximiliano Amondarain, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting José Motta's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Cienciano will try again when the window opens; Universitario may not be selling by then.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Claudio Núñez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every 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 Álvaro Rojas is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Cienciano know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
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 Santiago Arias has written the date down.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cienciano they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Jordan Quispe reports back to Cienciano with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Alianza Lima have kept their man, and Cienciano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Cienciano will try again when the window opens; Alianza Atletico may not be selling by then.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Kevin Becerra 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nadhir Colunga will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cienciano the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Cienciano have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Cienciano may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Cienciano until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Boca Juniors keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Ayacucho moved on, Jefferson Gutiérrez reports back to Cienciano, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cienciano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The shirt still fits. Ademar Robles is back at Cienciano, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
“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 Cienciano, and it is not being withdrawn.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Cienciano have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jordan Quispe will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cienciano the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Cienciano have gone to Universitario with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Juan Romagnoli 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.
Cienciano asked and Racing Club said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Claudio Núñez 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.
1‑5 to Juan Aurich, 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.
“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 Cienciano, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Cienciano people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Zamora; Cienciano go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Juan Romagnoli 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alejandro Hohberg provided it, and the 8.46 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Cesar Vallejo waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Cienciano is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Cienciano, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from UTC for Christofer Ramírez was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Cienciano have done the hard part with Zamora, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
$100.0K on the table at Universitario. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cienciano is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Sport Huancayo keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Cienciano offered $100.0K; Universitario said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
1‑4 to Universitario, 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.
$100.0K on the table at Universitario. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Aldosivi have kept their man, and Cienciano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Claudio Núñez 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Cienciano people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Cienciano and Alianza Atletico have settled on $290.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“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 Cienciano, and it is not being withdrawn.
Cienciano asked and Sport Huancayo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Juan Romagnoli and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Claudio Núñez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cienciano can pretend not to have heard.
Nadhir Colunga 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Claudio Núñez 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cienciano is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Nadhir Colunga and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Claudio Núñez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 May 2027
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 Alexander Guerrero left the room before anybody could ask which.
Something was said to Andy Polar and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
“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 Cienciano, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nadhir Colunga and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Claudio Núñez 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 goal that put Sport Huancayo ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Cienciano equalised, 3 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.97 for the rest of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cienciano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad17 May 2027
Kevin Becerra falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Successful dribbles: 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Alexander Guerrero on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Defensive actions: 15. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad17 May 2027
The division's best last weekend was a Cienciano man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Alejandro Hohberg was the best thing in any of them.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alejandro Hohberg provided it, and the 8.63 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cienciano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Three points for Cienciano, 2‑0 the final word against Alianza Lima in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad10 May 2027
Kevin Becerra 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 dugout10 May 2027
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.” Alexander Guerrero kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cienciano they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cienciano have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
200 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Claudio Núñez 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Andy Polar 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.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cienciano can pretend not to have heard.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.97 beside his name.
Claudio Núñez 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gonzalo Falcón, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Kevin Becerra 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 goal that put Juan Aurich ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Cienciano equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nadhir Colunga, and the manager let it.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Kevin Becerra 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 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.
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.17 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Nadhir Colunga 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.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Ayacucho were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Marked 8.44 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Claudio Núñez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Cienciano told Alejandro Hohberg something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cienciano they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Nadhir Colunga was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Becerra 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 dugout5 Apr 2027
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 Alexander Guerrero to a room that had heard them before.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cienciano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Becerra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Tarek Carranza is on it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Gerson Barreto’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Cienciano needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Cienciano know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Cienciano, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Next up on the road: Universitario, position 3. The supporters who go will talk about it all week and the ones who do not will check their phones at ten to five.
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Claudio Núñez 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.
Rotceh Aguilar 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 dugout22 Mar 2027
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 1‑4 Alexander Guerrero left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
Squad5 new faces, and Cienciano are still learning each other
Claudio Núñez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Becerra is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Maximiliano Amondarain, and the manager let it.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
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.” Alexander Guerrero chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
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.
Melgar next, and one man in the Cienciano dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
1‑4 against Cesar Vallejo, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nadhir Colunga will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cienciano the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Tarek Carranza scored, was marked 7.65, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
1 for Brayan Velarde, marked 7.40, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Up for the corner, and Claudio Núñez delivers — 6.90
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Claudio Núñez scored, was marked 6.90, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alejandro Hohberg and Cienciano agree another 2 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cienciano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Cienciano training over how hard people work
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cienciano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Sport Huancayo made Cienciano work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Claudio Núñez 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.
Marked 8.01 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
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.” Alexander Guerrero kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Cienciano, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every touch weighed, every quote parsed, every mistake replayed. Some players grow into that; some are quietly finished by it; nobody knows which until afterwards.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
0‑3 to Sporting Cristal, 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.
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.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
“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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Claudio Núñez 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.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
Nobody left the Cienciano dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
5 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.
In brief
The dugoutRenzo Saravia knocks on the manager's door
Looking aheadCienciano take on the side everybody is chasing
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Nadhir Colunga 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Duván Zárate has just signed for Cienciano, and for once the answer mattered.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alejandro Hohberg, and the manager let it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Kevin Becerra 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 dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Alexander Guerrero left the room before anybody could ask which.
He is 19, and nobody at Cienciano signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cienciano is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Nadhir Colunga 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.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
1 academy players handed senior numbers at Cienciano
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Raul Gallese has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Claudio Núñez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Alexander Guerrero after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Cienciano will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Claudio Núñez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Alianza Atletico next, and one man in the Cienciano dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Claudio Núñez 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.
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cienciano lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Claudio Núñez 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cienciano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cienciano lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cienciano they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Nadhir Colunga 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 33 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Cienciano is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Renzo Saravia trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The words a physio says slowly. 29 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.
Cienciano had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Sporting Cristal, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cienciano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Cienciano know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Cienciano know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The words a physio says slowly. 37 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Cienciano people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Cienciano had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Corinthians, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Gerson Barreto and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Claudio Núñez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cienciano lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Boca Juniors keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Add another name to the list: Deportivo Municipal have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Nadhir Colunga. The answer from Cienciano has not changed — yet.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Claudio Núñez 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
Transfer targetsA loan move for Warleson is in the works
The words a physio says slowly. 53 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 offer from Melgar for Maximiliano Amondarain was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cienciano can pretend not to have heard.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Estudiantes is saying, and nobody at Cienciano is enjoying the guessing.
Santiago Arias 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.
Boca Juniors 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.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Cienciano will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cienciano can pretend not to have heard.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Boca Juniors have kept their man, and Cienciano go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Santiago Arias and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Claudio Núñez 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.
Claudio Núñez 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.
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cienciano lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Claudio Núñez 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.
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Cienciano lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Gerson Barreto 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Claudio Núñez 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.
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cienciano lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cienciano lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Santiago Arias 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Claudio Núñez 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 words a physio says slowly. 46 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Claudio Núñez wants continental football; whether Cienciano can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
At 36, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Juan Romagnoli
SquadRay Sandoval has seen what the next man earns
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Claudio Núñez 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cienciano can pretend not to have heard.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Claudio Núñez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Juan Romagnoli 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Cienciano is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Claudio Núñez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
16 new faces, and Cienciano are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cienciano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gonzalo Aguirre trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Cienciano have no good answer.
Claudio Núñez 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.
Maximiliano Amondarain has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cienciano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Claudio Núñez 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Claudio Núñez is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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. Kevin Becerra has moved up it.
Marlon Ugarte is 35 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
15 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.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Cienciano have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Claudio Núñez has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Claudio Núñez wants continental football; whether Cienciano can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Claudio Núñez 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.
Claudio Núñez 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 dugout17 Aug 2026
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 Alexander Guerrero to a room that had heard them before.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Cienciano will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Raul Benavente 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Andre Advincula is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Aldo Pena is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Horacio Cueva 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Cienciano will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Gerson Barreto 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Neri Bandiera 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.
Still no offer on the table, and Gerson Barreto’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
13 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Cienciano, another week without a signature from Gonzalo Aguirre.