The words a physio says slowly. 113 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.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Edwin Bacca 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.
La Equidad offered $67.0K; Real Santander said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad8 Dec 2031
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Cardona 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alejandro Maciel and La Equidad agree another 1 years.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Federico Vera is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Guillermo Gómez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around La Equidad the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad20 Jan 2031
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Vera 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what La Equidad can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Fortaleza CEIF waiting with a shirt. Nobody at La Equidad is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Lecce keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Edwin Bacca 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.
La Equidad have gone to Millonarios with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Federico Vera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” La Equidad have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around La Equidad they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Nov 2030
Federico Vera 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at La Equidad, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. La Equidad know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mateo Cardona was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“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.
“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.
Boardroom22 Jul 2030
La Equidad close the window on a squad of their own making
5 in and 10 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mateo Cardona was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Add another name to the list: Boston River have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Duván Córdoba. The answer from La Equidad has not changed — yet.