Marked for Alejandro Martínez
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market28 Jan 2030
“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.
Match26 Jan 2030
No end in sight to Cortulua's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Cortulua has to find a result from somewhere.
Market28 Jan 2030
Ever Gómez has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cortulua they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad28 Jan 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cortulua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Jan 2030
0‑2 to Fortaleza CEIF, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad28 Jan 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Santiago Otegui, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Jan 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Hector Borja commits to Cortulua for another 3 years.
Player ratings28 Jan 2030
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings28 Jan 2030
Shots: 5, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Jan 2030
“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 The request is on a desk at Cortulua, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Jan 2030
Walner Mena: that is not what I was promised
“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.
Squad14 Jan 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cortulua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jan 2030
Luciano Nieto 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 Cortulua, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market14 Jan 2030
Cortulua have let the market know Alejandro Martínez can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Market14 Jan 2030
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Sergio Pabón leaves Cortulua the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Dec 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cortulua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market25 Dec 2028
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Daniel Borja gets it from the manager
“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
Crisis
Market25 Dec 2028
“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 Tigres, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market25 Dec 2028
Joiber Álvarez has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tigres they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad25 Dec 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tigres this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market25 Dec 2028
Cortulua paid $47.0K and Tigres took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Market25 Dec 2028
The name of Joshef Zea has come up in conversations Tigres were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad25 Dec 2028
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Dec 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Tigres may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market18 Dec 2028
“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 Tigres, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Tempers go at Tigres
Ricardo Rosales 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.
Market18 Dec 2028
Deportes Tolima paid $380.0K and Tigres took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Boardroom18 Dec 2028
Tigres counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Tigres now.
Market18 Dec 2028
Lorenzo de Paula is 20, and Tigres 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.