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 Henry Caparó was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The name of Nadhir Colunga has come up in conversations Cienciano were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Alejandro Hohberg 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Marlon Rivero has just signed for Cienciano, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad4 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rodrigo Rodríguez and Cienciano agree another 3 years.
The offer from Universitario for Alejandro Hohberg 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.
Alejandro Hohberg 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 version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Mihail Rodríguez is living that version at Cienciano, and it tends to show in the first month.
Alianza Atletico wanted more than $21.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
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 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.
The offer went to Alianza Atletico 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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alejandro Hohberg signs something — a contract at Cienciano or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Roberto Lopez 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.
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.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
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.
Ray Sandoval 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Nadhir Colunga has his answer from Cienciano; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Fernando Pasquale is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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 Cristian Souza is on it.
In brief
BoardroomOpen for business: Cienciano enter the window
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rotceh Aguilar will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cienciano the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Alejandro Hohberg 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.
29 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.
Alejandro Hohberg and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erick Rossi 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
47 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.
Alejandro Hohberg 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Joel Carrillo is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
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.
54 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rotceh Aguilar will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Cienciano the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erick Rossi 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.
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.
“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 Rotceh Aguilar.
64 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.
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. 72 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.
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.
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 Christofer Ramírez is on it.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
80 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.
Alejandro Hohberg 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erick Rossi 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.
17 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.
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.
Alejandro Hohberg 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.
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.
Alejandro Hohberg 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.
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.
32 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.
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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Cienciano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erick Rossi 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 Christofer Ramírez is on it.
“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.
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
Squad14 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Kevin 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Paolo Carrillo 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.
Jordan Quispe 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.
119 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.
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.
Ray Sandoval 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Freddy Yovera is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The words a physio says slowly. 126 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.
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 Aug 2026
Erick Rossi 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.
133 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Christofer Ramírez is on it.
Carlos Garcés 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Chances created: 12. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Shots: 16. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
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.
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.
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 rules permit it and it stings anyway. Rotceh Aguilar has agreed terms with Sporting Cristal for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Carlos Garcés and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Erick Rossi 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Gianluca Advincula 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Miguel Garces 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Horacio Guerrero 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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Cienciano would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Carlos Garcés 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.