From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match23 Oct 2026
Zamora come up short in Europe
0‑2 away to the standard of Fluminense. 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Daniel Rivillo gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Daniel Rivillo has just signed for Zamora, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Carlos Lujano 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.
Boardroom26 Oct 2026
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Match23 Oct 2026
3 matches without a goal for Zamora
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to José Miguel Reyes, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Juan Arango after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Zamora pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Oct 2026
“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 The request is on a desk at Zamora, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market19 Oct 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zamora they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Zamora
Carlos Lujano 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
Luis Casimiro Peña 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
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 dugout19 Oct 2026
César Urpín 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 Zamora, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market19 Oct 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Zamora know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
The training reports on Anthonys Matos are not good
A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Luis Casimiro Peña and Zamora agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Carlos Lujano 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Zamora
Antony Trujillo 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
One of our own: David Otero joins the Zamora first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. David Otero is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
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 Freddy Espinal is on it.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
César Urpín knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and César Urpín trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match2 Oct 2026
Zamora come up short in Europe
0‑1 away to the standard of San Lorenzo. 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Zamora
Erickson Gallardo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Carlos Lujano 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at Zamora
21 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.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
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 dugout5 Oct 2026
Somebody else is better right now than José Miguel Reyes
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
One yellow too many, and a match watched from the stand. The most avoidable absence in football, and Zamora will feel it on Saturday.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Zamora, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Zamora
Erickson Gallardo 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Stiven Valencia, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Zamora
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luis Casimiro Peña was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
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 Brayan Rodríguez is on it.
Market28 Sep 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Marco Bustillo’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
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 Marco Bustillo has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match18 Sep 2026
Zamora come up short in Europe
0‑1 away to the standard of Millonarios. 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.
Market21 Sep 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zamora is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Zamora
Erickson Gallardo 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Carlos Lujano 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
200 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 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 Juan Arango left the room before anybody could ask which.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Zamora pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Erickson Gallardo has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Zamora 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Sep 2026
A muscle injury and 17 days out for Sergio Sulbarán
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Zamora will quote 17 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Carlos Lujano 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 dugout14 Sep 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.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Carlos Lujano asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Freddy Espinal has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Zamora 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
The name of Erickson Gallardo keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Zamora say nothing, which says plenty.
Market14 Sep 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.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager makes Ariel Bulacio a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Zamora. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market14 Sep 2026
Zamora have made Armando Rivas available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match2 Sep 2026
Zamora march on in the cup
Deportivo Tachira are out and Zamora go through, 2‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Zamora
Carlos Lujano 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.
Match2 Sep 2026
Still nobody has beaten Zamora
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Stiven Valencia falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Marked 8.06 — 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.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Anthonys Matos
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The award goes to Erickson Gallardo, and nobody around here is inclined to argue with the choice.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Zamora
21 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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The dugout
When it matters, Marco Bustillo plays
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The dugout
Carlos Lujano asks for a word with the manager
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad31 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Zamora
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carlos Lujano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad31 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 Zamora this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout31 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 Aug 2026
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Kevin Armesto: 3 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match19 Aug 2026
Zamora march on in the cup
Estudiantes de Merida are out and Zamora go through, 0‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Market24 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Zamora did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zamora they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market24 Aug 2026
Zamora may not be able to give Kevin Armesto what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Kevin Armesto wants continental football; whether Zamora can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Zamora training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Lujano 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Zamora
Antony Trujillo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match19 Aug 2026
The run is over for Zamora
4 matches without defeat, and then Estudiantes de Merida. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match12 Aug 2026
Zamora march on in the cup
Estudiantes de Caracas are out and Zamora go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Santos Torrealba at 19 — 7.84
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Santos Torrealba did not need any: 7.84, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match15 Aug 2026
Zamora make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Zamora have 4 straight wins of it.
Squad17 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 Zamora this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Santos Torrealba 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Aragua made Zamora work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.49, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Richard Celis at his very best
Marked 8.41. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Zamora.
In brief
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The dugout
Stiven Valencia gets it from the manager
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Squad
“I want to play”: José Flores speaks
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A brace, and Erickson Gallardo takes the afternoon — 8.50
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Erickson Gallardo provided it, and the 8.50 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market10 Aug 2026
Zamora say no — this time
The offer from Sioni for Beycker Velásquez 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.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” José Flores commits to Zamora for another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Zamora
Erickson Gallardo 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.
Match8 Aug 2026
Deportivo Lara made Zamora work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Carlos Lujano 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Darwin Martinez 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. Oscar Arango 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad3 Aug 2026
The match ball belongs to Arlés Flores, whose 5 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Match1 Aug 2026
14‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The match ball belongs to Richard Celis, whose 4 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad3 Aug 2026
4 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Market3 Aug 2026
Zamora say no — this time
The offer from Belshina for Kevin Armesto 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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Arlés Flores, 35, rolls back the years — 8.36
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.36 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Arlés Flores and Zamora agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Freddy Espinal scored one and made one — 7.89
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.89, and 2 involvements.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Richard Celis at his very best
Marked 10.00. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Zamora.