“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monagas B can pretend not to have heard.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Yerwin Sulbarán trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A new face in his position, and Emmanuel Reyes suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Monagas B have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monagas B can pretend not to have heard.
At 19 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.
A new face in his position, and Emmanuel Reyes suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Monagas B have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
He came through the session, took part in everything and finished it smiling. Monagas B will not rush him, and he will spend the next fortnight trying to rush them.
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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Monagas B will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. José Araguache is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
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.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the Monagas B squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout10 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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Fernando Rincon to a room that had heard them before.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Trujillanos.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Fabricio Ramírez. 2‑0 against Academia Puerto Cabello B, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Jhon Mancilla and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
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.” Fernando Rincon kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Reyes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.