Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Martín Maturana will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around O'Higgins 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 O'Higgins this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Thiago Vecino 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.
Shots: 11. 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at O'Higgins, and it is not being withdrawn.
Martín Sarrafiore 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 Jul 2027
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thiago Vecino is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
Miguel Brizuela was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.20. 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.
It needed Miguel Brizuela to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against San Luis, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad19 Jul 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Alan Robledo'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.
24 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at O'Higgins this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what O'Higgins can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nicolás Matamoros will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around O'Higgins the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thiago Vecino 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at O'Higgins this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 O'Higgins, and it is not being withdrawn.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 28 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
The fee is $1.9M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Audax Italiano drove a hard bargain; time will say who won 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 O'Higgins this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Thiago Vecino 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.
Martín Sarrafiore 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.
23 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.
17 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what O'Higgins can pretend not to have heard.
The chase for Nicolás Meza ended with $340.0K changing hands and Palestino out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at O'Higgins this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8 goals in one match, Martín Sarrafiore on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of O'Higgins and Iquique.
San Marcos de Arica pay $360.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
In brief
SquadThiago Vecino falls out with a teammate over standards
Martín Sarrafiore 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 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 performance of 8.23 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Rodrigo Godoy
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Rodrigo Godoy has come out of that comparison in the side, and O'Higgins have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Felipe Faúndez has his answer from O'Higgins; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at O'Higgins this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Benjamín Schamine 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 hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Rodrigo Godoy did not need any: 8.16, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Martín Sarrafiore 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: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thiago Vecino 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.
At 21 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at O'Higgins this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Benjamín Schamine 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.
Martín Sarrafiore 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 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.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Bastián Yáñez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.83. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at O'Higgins this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 May 2027
Thiago Vecino 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.
20 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.
Martín Sarrafiore 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 Apr 2027
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thiago Vecino 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.
9.00. 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.
Martín Sarrafiore 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.
22 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at O'Higgins this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Simón Ramírez and O'Higgins agree another 3 years.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Thiago Vecino 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.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Thiago Vecino was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.30. 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Francisco González wants continental football; whether O'Higgins can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Martín Sarrafiore 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Gustavo Ávila is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thiago Vecino 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Benjamín Schamine 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at O'Higgins this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Diego Carreño has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
1 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 28 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Martín Sarrafiore 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 ratings22 Mar 2027
Miguel Brizuela was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.52. 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thiago Vecino 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at O'Higgins 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Felipe Ogaz 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
In brief
The terracesEverybody has an opinion about Omar Carabalí
Player ratingsThe one thing Thiago Vecino could not do
Martín Sarrafiore 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.
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.
8.85. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at O'Higgins this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 9.51. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at O'Higgins.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Thiago Vecino 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.
20 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.61 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Martín Sarrafiore 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thiago Vecino 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Benjamín Schamine 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 19 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at O'Higgins this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom15 Feb 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at O'Higgins
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.
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Gary Sierralta 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. Erick Diaz is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Rodrigo Meneses 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.
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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thiago Vecino 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at O'Higgins this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at O'Higgins this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason O'Higgins will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Martín Sarrafiore 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason O'Higgins 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 O'Higgins this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Thiago Vecino 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason O'Higgins will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what O'Higgins can pretend not to have heard.
Martín Sarrafiore 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.
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 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason O'Higgins will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” O'Higgins have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 O'Higgins, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at O'Higgins this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 64 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Martín Sarrafiore 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.
Add another name to the list: Audax Italiano have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Esteban Calderón. The answer from O'Higgins has not changed — yet.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thiago Vecino 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. 73 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The deal that would have taken Omar Carabalí to Universidad Catolica has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to O'Higgins with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Thiago Vecino 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.
Simón Ramírez 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 80 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Francisco González and O'Higgins agree another 4 years.
Martín Sarrafiore 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason O'Higgins will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Simón Ramírez is living that version at O'Higgins, and it tends to show in the first month.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at O'Higgins this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Cristóbal Castillo has come up in conversations O'Higgins were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Thiago Vecino 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at O'Higgins has been clear about where Cristóbal Castillo stands, which is more than many ever get.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 96 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Martín Sarrafiore 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Francisco González wants continental football; whether O'Higgins can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
In brief
Boardroom155% of the income goes out in wages at O'Higgins
SquadFelipe Ogaz falls out with a teammate over standards
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 103 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at O'Higgins this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 110 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Martín Sarrafiore 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thiago Vecino is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
In brief
SquadThe manager has not finished forgetting Benjamín Schamine's mistake
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 119 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at O'Higgins this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Felipe Ogaz 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. 126 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 133 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at O'Higgins this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadThiago Vecino falls out with a teammate over standards
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 142 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” O'Higgins have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Martín Sarrafiore 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at O'Higgins this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at O'Higgins, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at O'Higgins 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.
Martín Sarrafiore 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Francisco González wants continental football; whether O'Higgins can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thiago Vecino is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
In brief
Boardroom286% of the income goes out in wages at O'Higgins
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at O'Higgins this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alan Robledo 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.
Martín Sarrafiore 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 medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Cristóbal Tobar, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
In brief
SquadThe manager has not finished forgetting Alan Robledo's mistake
7Edition
The O'Higgins Sentinel
14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondentUpbeat
Squad14 Sep 2026
Thiago Vecino 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 board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 94th minute. Colo-Colo will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Martín Sarrafiore 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.
Defensive actions: 21, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thiago Vecino 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
92 minutes played. Nicolás Matamoros found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Universidad de Chile went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 29 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at O'Higgins this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Martín Sarrafiore 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thiago Vecino 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.
100 minutes played. Nicolás Matamoros found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Union La Calera went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Gabriel Pinto did not need any: 7.78, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at O'Higgins this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 9.23 — 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.
A 2‑1 win over Audax Italiano, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Marked 8.89 — 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Esteban Calderón 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.
In brief
SquadWords at O'Higgins 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 O'Higgins this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 easiest signature of my career.” Francisco González and O'Higgins agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
8.56. 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.
36 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Bastián Yáñez
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Universidad de Concepcion kept coming because nothing stopped them, and O'Higgins will be asked about the last half hour all week.
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 0 on the scoresheet, 7.35 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Juan Leiva wants continental football; whether O'Higgins can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Martín Sarrafiore and O'Higgins agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Martín Sarrafiore 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
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thiago Vecino 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Thiago Vecino was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.76. 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.
Marked 8.73 — 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.