From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
Luis Ferraresi damages knee ligaments — 37 days out
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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Cristian Rosales 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
Junior Rondon 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Gabriel Murillo 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Andres Cordova has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Llaneros 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Oct 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Llaneros can pretend not to have heard.
Squad26 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Llaneros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Ferraresi 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Victor Soteldo is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Junior Rondon 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Llaneros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian Rosales 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Llaneros may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Rubén Rivas in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Llaneros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Murillo 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
Rubén Rivas 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Cristian Soteldo and Llaneros agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Daniel Ferraresi 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Sep 2026
“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 Llaneros, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market28 Sep 2026
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Rubén Rivas in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
Junior Rondon 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Gabriel Murillo 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Cristian Soteldo, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Llaneros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Ferraresi 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match2 Sep 2026
Cup progress for Llaneros
A 1‑0 win over Mineros de Guayana, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Match2 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 89th, and Mineros de Guayana spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 27 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Junior Rondon 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 Sep 2026
Alex Souza pulls a muscle — 15 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Match2 Sep 2026
Still nobody has beaten Llaneros
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Junior Rondon was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.44. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Match2 Sep 2026
Llaneros are at home on the road
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
“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 Llaneros, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Daniel Ferraresi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Junior Rondon 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Aug 2026
Llaneros through in the cup
A 1‑0 win over Zamora, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match19 Aug 2026
Llaneros win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 118th minute. Zamora will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Alejandro Rincon at 21 — 7.81
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alejandro Rincon did not need any: 7.81, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Rubén Rivas was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Alex Souza runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Daniel Ferraresi 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 terraces24 Aug 2026
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
19 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match12 Aug 2026
Cup progress for Llaneros
A 2‑1 win over Caracas, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Alex Souza at 21 — 8.89
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alex Souza did not need any: 8.89, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad17 Aug 2026
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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Rubén Rivas in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Llaneros supporters have found a favourite in Alex Souza
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Alex Souza has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Diego Rosales, and the manager let it.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Cristian Rosales 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Portuguesa leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Nobody could get near Alex Souza
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Junior Rondon commits to Llaneros for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Rubén Rivas in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Junior Rondon 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 terraces10 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Francisco Rosales has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.74 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“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.
Match8 Aug 2026
It needed Francisco Rosales to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Aragua, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 Aug 2026
Llaneros say no — this time
The offer from Al-Taawoun for Alejandro Rincon 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“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 Llaneros, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market3 Aug 2026
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Junior Rondon wants continental football; whether Llaneros can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Junior Rondon 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Diego Rosales and Llaneros agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Daniel Ferraresi 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
16 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.