Marked for Darwin Torres
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Aug 2027
Sebastián Borja damages knee ligaments — 21 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Market2 Aug 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Barranquilla can pretend not to have heard.
Market2 Aug 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Barranquilla people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad2 Aug 2027
José Luis Caicedo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
“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.
Market2 Aug 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Barranquilla have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jhon Navia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad2 Aug 2027
The medical room confirms 25 days on the sidelines for Andres Diaz, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Jun 2027
He is 21, he is averaging 7.39, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Market28 Jun 2027
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Barranquilla can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad28 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Barranquilla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Barranquilla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jhon Navia 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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to Deportes Tolima: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
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 dugout28 Jun 2027
“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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Young player of the week: Yesid García
At 21 he was the best of everybody his age in the division for one weekend. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Iván Balanta'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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Jun 2027
“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 Barranquilla, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market7 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market7 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Tigres waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Barranquilla is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad7 Jun 2027
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.
Match5 Jun 2027
The unbeaten run reaches 11. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad7 Jun 2027
José Luis Caicedo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A season average of 7.01 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Barranquilla know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Barranquilla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jhon Navia 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings3 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 34. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings3 May 2027
A brace, and Jordan Barrera takes the afternoon — 8.52
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jordan Barrera provided it, and the 8.52 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The dugout3 May 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Barranquilla may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad3 May 2027
A season average of 7.15 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Barranquilla know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad3 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Barranquilla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match1 May 2027
Whatever happens, Barranquilla do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad3 May 2027
Joel Canchimbo is the month’s best young player
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Barranquilla will try not to make too much of it.
Match1 May 2027
Late, late show earns Barranquilla a point
Minute 88, against Real Santander, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
The dugout3 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Diego Mendoza, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
José Luis Caicedo 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
“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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Joel Canchimbo has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Barranquilla 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.