The words a physio says slowly. 37 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Jonathan Cañete had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Deportivo Tachira were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.91 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Portuguesa 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.
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 Jonathan Cañete is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rubert Quijada trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The words a physio says slowly. 44 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
1 for Junior Cedeño, marked 7.77, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a 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 Portuguesa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A goal on 90 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Portuguesa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ezequiel Gnemmi 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.
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Juan Reyes'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.
52 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Portuguesa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Johan Moreno and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Portuguesa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Óscar González 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 are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
60 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Portuguesa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.98 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Jonathan Cañete 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.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Zamora were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
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.
“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.
The dugout25 Jan 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.” Daniel Ferraresi kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
67 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Portuguesa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Portuguesa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Portuguesa 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luis Moreno Quero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lautaro Lovazzano trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Alexander Guerra has written the date down.
The words a physio says slowly. 74 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Portuguesa offered $33.0K; Carabobo said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Luis Osorio is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
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.
82 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Portuguesa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Portuguesa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Mineros de Guayana moved on, Robert Mendoza reports back to Portuguesa, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Jonathan Cañete 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.
Zamora wanted more than $230.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Portuguesa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Óscar González is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Rubén Rojas is on it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Robert Mendoza
89 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Portuguesa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer went to Estudiantes de Merida 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.
Portuguesa have gone to Zamora 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.
Jonathan Cañete 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 Portuguesa 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rubert Quijada trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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
The dugoutEzequiel Gnemmi is still being punished for one mistake
97 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Portuguesa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Christopher Montaña was one of the reasons people came, and $830.0K does not replace that by itself.
The clubs have shaken hands with Zamora; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Portuguesa asked and Estudiantes de Merida said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Deportivo Tachira wanted more than $37.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Óscar González was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
106 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Portuguesa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
0‑1 away to the standard of Penarol. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Portuguesa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer went to Zamora 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.
114 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Portuguesa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The offer went to Trujillanos 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.
Jonathan Cañete 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.
$35.0K on the table at Deportivo Tachira. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Portuguesa offered $160.0K; Carabobo said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Portuguesa asked and Zamora said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lautaro Lovazzano and Portuguesa agree another 3 years.
Héber García damages knee ligaments — 122 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 122 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
1‑3 against Millonarios, and an evening that measured the gap rather than the ninety minutes. Nothing about it was a disgrace and nothing about it was close.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Portuguesa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Jonathan Cañete 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 makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Portuguesa will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
The dugoutThe team sheet said everything about Moisés Acuña
130 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Portuguesa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Portuguesa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Portuguesa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Portuguesa 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Junior Cedeño trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
138 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Portuguesa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Óscar González was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Portuguesa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
0‑1 against Sport Recife, and an evening that measured the gap rather than the ninety minutes. Nothing about it was a disgrace and nothing about it was close.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Álbaro Polo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Portuguesa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Jonathan Cañete 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 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.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Portuguesa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. José Pérez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Portuguesa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Rubert Quijada 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 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 words a physio says slowly. 34 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
0‑3. There is a level at which football is played every single week by clubs that have been doing it for fifty years, and an evening like this is what it feels like to arrive there without having done it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Portuguesa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Óscar González was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Lautaro Lovazzano 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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout26 Oct 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 0‑3 Daniel Ferraresi left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Ezequiel Gnemmi's mistake
The dugoutNo place for Joel Cáceres on the big day
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Portuguesa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Jonathan Cañete and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Portuguesa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Óscar González 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.
49 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Portuguesa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Jonathan Cañete 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.
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Portuguesa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
1‑2 against Penarol, and an evening that measured the gap rather than the ninety minutes. Nothing about it was a disgrace and nothing about it was close.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Portuguesa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Jonathan Cañete 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Óscar González was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Portuguesa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Portuguesa 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.
18 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 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.
Nobody at Portuguesa 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 Portuguesa. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Portuguesa could ask drops and the wages Lautaro Lovazzano can ask rise.
2‑5 against Millonarios. The honest reading is not that the players were poor; it is that the distance between this club and that one is currently measured in things money takes years to buy.
Two goals and a mark of 8.71 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Portuguesa and Millonarios, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
200 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.
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 Junior Cedeño.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
Nobody left the Portuguesa dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
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 2‑5 Daniel Ferraresi left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Rubén Rojas's mistake
The dugoutJonathan Cañete has become a man the manager trusts
7Edition
The Portuguesa Gazette
14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondentUpbeat
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Portuguesa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Óscar González 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Jose Rosales 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Portuguesa. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Portuguesa, another week without a signature from José Pérez.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. José Pérez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Portuguesa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. José Pérez has agreed terms with Estudiantes de Caracas for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Óscar González was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Portuguesa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Portuguesa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Portuguesa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
18 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.
Jonathan Cañete and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Portuguesa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Óscar González 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 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.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Ezequiel Gnemmi'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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jonathan Cañete signs something — a contract at Portuguesa or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.20 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Christopher Montaña scored, was marked 7.49, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Jonathan Cañete 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Jonathan Cañete was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.55. 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Portuguesa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Óscar González 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 board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. Atletico Venezuela will replay every second of the added time for a week.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.81 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. José Calzadilla 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Portuguesa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jonathan Cañete. 2‑1 against Atletico Venezuela, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Sergio Ferraresi 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Cristian Herrera 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. Juan Casseres is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Portuguesa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Jonathan Cañete 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 Portuguesa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johan Moreno 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.
26 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Estudiantes de Caracas spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.