From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Aug 2026
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Union Espanola lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Union Espanola's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Union Espanola has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Sebastián Pereira 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Pablo Aránguiz falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Martín Parra gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Match22 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. O'Higgins will be the happier side with the point.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Ulises Ojeda knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Union Espanola, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Aug 2026
Rodrigo Alarcón damages knee ligaments — 36 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 36 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.
Match12 Aug 2026
Out, 0‑1 to Universidad de Concepcion, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Marcelo Jorquera has just signed for Union Espanola, and for once the answer mattered.
Match15 Aug 2026
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Union Espanola are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Pablo Aránguiz and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ulises Ojeda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match15 Aug 2026
The goal that put Universidad de Chile ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Union Espanola equalised, 3 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Leandro Cañete
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 Aug 2026
1‑4 to Colo-Colo, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Pablo Aránguiz 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Marcelo Valdes is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Guillermo Mena 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Jose 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Nicolas Fernandez 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Renato Cordero, and the manager let it.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Union Espanola 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Patricio Rubio and Union Espanola agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Union Espanola this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Patricio Rubio 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
Audax Italiano left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Pablo Aránguiz’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Union Espanola
13 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.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Looking ahead
Union Espanola take on the side everybody is chasing
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The dugout
The plan did not have a place for Martín Parra