It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Thiago Vecino wants continental football; whether O'Higgins can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Cristian Morales and O'Higgins agree another 4 years.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Felipe Alvarado 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 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at O'Higgins. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
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.
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 Thiago Vecino is on it.
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.
“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.
12 graduates, from a department now rated 11 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Esteban Moreira will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around O'Higgins the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Jonathan Espínola 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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutAlan Robledo asks for a word with the manager
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” O'Higgins may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Felipe Faúndez 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.
“I watch every O'Higgins game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Palestino runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“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.
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 Alexander Acosta stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
Omar Carabalí 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Felipe Faúndez 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 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.
Bastián Yáñez 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sebastián Marfort trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Position 10 on 38 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around O'Higgins they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Omar Carabalí 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Felipe Alvarado 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 dugout20 Sep 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 Felipe Suazo left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
100 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at O'Higgins pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. O'Higgins told Saúl Salcedo something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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
Squad8 new faces, and O'Higgins are still learning each other
“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.
Saúl Salcedo 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 Felipe Faúndez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. O'Higgins will try not to make too much of it.
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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Esteban Moreira has his answer from O'Higgins; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Alan Robledo 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.
He is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
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 dugout30 Aug 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.” Felipe Suazo kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around O'Higgins they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Felipe Faúndez 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 Alan Robledo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 6.96, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Something was said to Gastón Lodico and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Felipe Faúndez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. David Fernández 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.
12 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at O'Higgins, and 11 appearances in 34 say he has earned the hearing.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at O'Higgins can tell you which week it ends in.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Felipe Alvarado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Felipe Suazo after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Omar Carabalí 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rosario Central have kept their man, and O'Higgins go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Deportes La Serena left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Bastián Yáñez 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.
“Another season, another badge, another dressing room to win over. I would like one pre-season at O'Higgins where somebody actually looks at me.” He belongs to Palestino until the spell ends; the argument is with the club that owns him.
“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.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
Deadline passes with 11 signed and 8 gone
That is the business done at O'Higgins 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.
O'Higgins have gone to Deportes Santa Cruz 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Deportes Santa Cruz have kept their man, and O'Higgins go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Omar Carabalí 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 Jul 2027
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Felipe Faúndez 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 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Saúl Salcedo.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around O'Higgins people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Saúl Salcedo 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.
O'Higgins and Universidad Catolica have settled on $43.0K. 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. O'Higgins have done the hard part with Lanús, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.
O'Higgins asked and Universidad Catolica said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Three points for O'Higgins, 2‑1 the final word against Cobreloa in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
Gastón Lodico was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.01. 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. O'Higgins will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
In brief
SquadFelipe Alvarado falls out with a teammate over standards
Two goals and a mark of 8.58 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around O'Higgins people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Everything agreed with Huachipato, 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 Rangers de Talca 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.
Deportes La Serena paid $610.0K and O'Higgins took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
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 offer from Fiorentina for David Fernández 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.95 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether O'Higgins can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The chase for Enzo Ormeño ended with $360.0K changing hands and Curicó Unido out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Omar Carabalí 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.
The clubs have shaken hands with Curicó Unido; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Everything agreed with Defensa y Justicia, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
$410.0K on the table at San Marcos de Arica. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 14 actions, 6.78, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
O'Higgins asked and Antofagasta said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around O'Higgins people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
A brace, and Thiago Vecino takes the afternoon — 8.70
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Thiago Vecino provided it, and the 8.70 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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.
The deal with Universidad de Chile 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.
A brace, and Thiago Vecino takes the afternoon — 8.52
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Thiago Vecino provided it, and the 8.52 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. O'Higgins have lost him in all but the paperwork.
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.
The clubs have shaken hands with Deportes Concepción; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.99 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“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.
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.
The deal with San Luis 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.
Omar Carabalí 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.
50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
Position 8, 18 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout31 May 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Felipe Suazo to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
The dugoutThiago Vecino has become a man the manager trusts
David Fernández, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.65
A mark of 7.65 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Felipe Faúndez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 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 1‑2 Felipe Suazo left the room before anybody could ask which.
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 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.
1‑2 to Huachipato, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Felipe Alvarado 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 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.
Universidad de Chile next, and one man in the O'Higgins dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Omar Carabalí signs something — a contract at O'Higgins or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Omar Carabalí 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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Felipe Suazo after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. O'Higgins know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Palestino the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that O'Higgins will enjoy reviewing.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. David Fernández did not need any: 7.73, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Felipe Faúndez 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 young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at O'Higgins who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
“I did not go to Palestino to sit and watch. I want to come back to O'Higgins and fight for my place.” 6 appearances in 19 matches say the rest.
The dugout3 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 2‑3 Felipe Suazo left the room before anybody could ask which.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.90 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether O'Higgins can give him that is a question about the club, 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 O'Higgins this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 O'Higgins this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Omar Carabalí 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.
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.
Marked 7.87. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
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.” Felipe Suazo, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
David Fernández, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.62
A mark of 7.62 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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.
Nicolás Garrido 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.
“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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Felipe Faúndez 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 watch every O'Higgins game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Palestino runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 O'Higgins 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 Luis Pavez Muñoz is on it.
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 Universidad Catolica.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Juan Leiva’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and O'Higgins needing him to play as if none of it matters.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Diego Carreño: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. David Fernández 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.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Union Espanola the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that O'Higgins will enjoy reviewing.
“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.
Omar Carabalí 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.
Omar Carabalí 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Felipe Faúndez is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
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 O'Higgins, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Felipe Suazo after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Two goals and a mark of 8.30 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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 7.20 for the rest of it.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Thiago Vecino wants continental football; whether O'Higgins 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 O'Higgins this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals in one match, Bastián Yáñez on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of O'Higgins and Cobresal.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Felipe Faúndez 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.
Ñublense will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. O'Higgins were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
David Fernández, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.87
A mark of 7.87 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jean Osorio 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. Juan Valencia 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alan Robledo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Felipe Faúndez 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 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and David Fernández trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Alan Robledo 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 O'Higgins this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
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 Luis Pavez Muñoz is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and David Fernández trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
7 new faces, and O'Higgins 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at O'Higgins, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
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 Bryan Rabello is on it.
Omar Carabalí 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Thiago Vecino trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
“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.
O'Higgins ran out of time with Universidad Catolica. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Omar Carabalí 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nicolás Matamoros is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Audax Italiano wanted more than $150.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
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.
Still no offer on the table, and Bastián Yáñez’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
The clubs have shaken hands with Universidad Catolica; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The offer from Deportes Limache for Nicolás Garrido 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 number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $166.9K — a club that wants Daniel Piña enough to be asked twice.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Vasco da Gama is saying, and nobody at O'Higgins is enjoying the guessing.
At 18 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sport Recife have kept their man, and O'Higgins go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
SquadFelipe Faúndez falls out with a teammate over standards
“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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Tomás Avilés 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 offer went to Audax Italiano 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.
The deal with Universidad de Chile 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.
Audax Italiano paid $2.2M and O'Higgins took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $166.9K — a club that wants Martín Jiménez enough to be asked twice.
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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Martín Espinoza has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
The deal that would have taken Martín Maturana to Cobreloa 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Martín Espinoza will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around O'Higgins the goodbyes have quietly begun.
$150.0K on the table at Audax Italiano. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Joaquín Escobar is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Omar Carabalí: 4 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Done, and with games to spare. Next season has floodlit nights against clubs from other countries in it, and the accounts have a line they did not have last year.
1‑1 against Universidad Catolica, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
The phone has started ringing about Martín Sarrafiore again, and this time the name on the line is Audax Italiano. O'Higgins are listening politely and promising nothing.
The fee is $700.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Deportes Santa Cruz drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The chase for Bairon Monroy ended with $260.0K changing hands and San Marcos de Arica out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The shirt still fits. Cristian Insaurralde is back at O'Higgins, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alan Robledo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Deportes Santa Cruz have accepted the money. What O'Higgins 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 San Marcos de Arica, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
O'Higgins asked and Antofagasta said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
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.
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.
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. Ignacio Schor has moved up it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joaquín Tapia 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.
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.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. O'Higgins know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Omar Carabalí 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Felipe Faúndez 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 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. O'Higgins know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Diego Carreño has written the date down.
Omar Carabalí 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.
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 Thiago Vecino is on it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian Morales 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. O'Higgins know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
Tomás Avilés 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.
“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.
“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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around O'Higgins they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
In brief
The dugoutAlan Robledo asks for a word with the manager
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Felipe Faúndez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. O'Higgins know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Thiago Vecino wants continental football; whether O'Higgins can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Omar Carabalí 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.
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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian Morales 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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 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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.16 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around O'Higgins 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 O'Higgins 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 Felipe Faúndez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 6.69 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Omar Carabalí 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 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 Cristian Morales was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. O'Higgins know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
The first defeat in 9 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Colo-Colo; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
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. 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.
0‑1 to Colo-Colo, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
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 0‑1 Felipe Suazo left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. O'Higgins know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.85 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Felipe Faúndez 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 earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Felipe Suazo on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around O'Higgins they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
At 20 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. O'Higgins will try not to make too much of it.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. David Fernández is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
11 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.
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.
“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.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Omar Carabalí: 4 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Union Espanola will want this one forgotten quickly: 6‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. O'Higgins were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
“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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
David Fernández, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.82
A mark of 7.82 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.42 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Omar Carabalí 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.
In brief
MatchWalter Bou among the goals in a wild afternoon
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. David Fernández did not need any: 7.89, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.08 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Omar Carabalí 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Thiago Vecino wants continental football; whether O'Higgins can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
A 2‑1 win over Deportes Santa Cruz, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Everton de Viña del Mar will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. O'Higgins were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Rodrigo Godoy, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.99
A mark of 7.99 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Juan Francisco Rossel has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means O'Higgins have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Santiago Toloza 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.
Marked 8.07 — 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 no worse way to lose a footballer. Joaquín Tapia has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around O'Higgins they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Omar Carabalí 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Eduardo Beausejour 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. Guillermo Osorio 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Gary Meneses is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. David Fernández did not need any: 7.63, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Tomás Avilés 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.
At 20 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.
“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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at O'Higgins training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Felipe Faúndez 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.
11 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.