Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Paulo Tavares has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
“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 Cortulua, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Cortulua, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cortulua can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Cortulua is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Cortulua pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Lautaro Maldonado: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
A 1-1 win over America de Cali, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cortulua have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cortulua have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Cortulua that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
In brief
The terracesThe press have found their man in Fernando Torres
The shirt still fits. Carlos Cuadrado is back at Cortulua, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
The shirt still fits. Kevin Barrios is back at Cortulua, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Shifted about, taken off before the hour, asked to do somebody else's running — Johan Diaz has had enough of being useful and would like to be picked. Cortulua know, and have known for weeks.
In brief
The terracesThe press cannot get enough of Paulo Tavares
Edmilson Herazo is 18, and Cortulua have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.