Marked for Uberney Rovira
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 May 2027
17 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The dugout10 May 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Deportes Quindio may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match8 May 2027
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad10 May 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jhoao Rodríguez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad10 May 2027
Samuel Asprilla 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 dugout10 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Andrés Carabalí
“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 dugout10 May 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Jesus Hernandez to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout10 May 2027
Something was said to Deyman Cortés and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad10 May 2027
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Deportes Quindio will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Mar 2027
Jhoao Rodríguez 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.
Squad29 Mar 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 Deportes Quindio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom29 Mar 2027
101% of the income goes out in wages at Deportes Quindio
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Deportes Quindio told Hassan Vergara something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sergio Pabón, and the manager let it.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ánderson Mojica trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Deportes Quindio. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Looking ahead29 Mar 2027
Next up on the road: Independiente Medellin, position 7. The supporters who go will talk about it all week and the ones who do not will check their phones at ten to five.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market1 Feb 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market1 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market1 Feb 2027
The deal that would have taken Kevin Parra to Bogota has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Deportes Quindio with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Match30 Jan 2027
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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Deportes Quindio asked and Talleres said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match30 Jan 2027
0‑1 to Once Caldas, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout1 Feb 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.
Squad1 Feb 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 Deportes Quindio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
Mathematically certain, and nobody in this town is going to bed early. Whatever else happened this season, it finishes a division above where it started.
Market4 Jan 2027
Néider Barona hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Deportes Quindio can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Deportes Quindio asked and San Lorenzo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad4 Jan 2027
José Lloreda and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Uberney Rovira and Deportes Quindio agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Deportes Quindio have made the call to Boca Juniors. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
Andrés Tello 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 Deportes Quindio, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
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 Jhoao Rodríguez is on it.