Marked for Gian Cabezas
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets18 Dec 2028
Cobreloa asked and Deportes Temuco said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Ivo Molinari 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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Diego García 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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Cobreloa are still strangers to each other
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Squad18 Dec 2028
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
The manager makes an example of Gian Cabezas
“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 dugout18 Dec 2028
Joel Lucero 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 Cobreloa, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market18 Dec 2028
Hugo Araya linked with a move away
The name of Hugo Araya keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Cobreloa say nothing, which says plenty.
Market18 Dec 2028
The shop window has Ariel Chaves in it
Cobreloa have let the market know Ariel Chaves can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Nov 2028
Fredy Hinestroza damages knee ligaments — 52 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 52 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.
Market13 Nov 2028
Gastón Gerzel 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 Cobreloa can pretend not to have heard.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Nehemías Portillo 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
A row about effort at Cobreloa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego García was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
The manager makes an example of Joel Lucero
“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.
Boardroom13 Nov 2028
93% of the income goes out in wages at Cobreloa
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom6 Nov 2028
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.
Squad6 Nov 2028
A falling-out at Cobreloa
Cristián Cuevas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Nov 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Gabriel Reta commits to Cobreloa for another 4 years.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
“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.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Words at Cobreloa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego García 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.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
The manager's exit leaves Cristián Cuevas exposed
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Cristián Cuevas is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
Boardroom6 Nov 2028
The numbers do not look good at Cobreloa
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad6 Nov 2028
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 dugout6 Nov 2028
Luis Bonilla has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Cobreloa 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.
In brief
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The dugout
Fredy Hinestroza asks for a word with the manager
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Boardroom
Cobreloa were not finished after all
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Boardroom
The Cobreloa production line keeps running
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Oct 2027
Hervin Goyes 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 Deportivo Pasto can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Hervin Goyes, 21, steals the show — 7.76
Marked 7.76 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mateo Garavito, and the manager let it.
The terraces25 Oct 2027
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Marco Espíndola 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 dugout25 Oct 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Pablo Arias after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Match23 Oct 2027
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Real Cartagena came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Sep 2027
A fracture rules Fáiner Torijano out for 22 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Deportivo Pasto will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad27 Sep 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Juan Felipe Ruíz
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Deportivo Pasto lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market27 Sep 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.
Match25 Sep 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad27 Sep 2027
David Guerrero 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 dugout27 Sep 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Édgar Guerra beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jesús Quintero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
Fabián Villa 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.
In brief
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The dugout
Somebody else is better right now than Enrique Serje
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The dugout
The manager has not finished forgetting Gian Cabezas's mistake
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Looking ahead
Mayer Gil faces his old club
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Jul 2027
102 days out for Fáiner Torijano after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Deportivo Pasto will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match17 Jul 2027
0‑3 to La Equidad, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market19 Jul 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 Deportivo Pasto can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Deportivo Pasto asked and Estudiantes said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Patrick Preciado 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 dugout19 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matías Pisano, and the manager let it.
Boardroom19 Jul 2027
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Market19 Jul 2027
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Deportivo Pasto has been clear about where Harrinson Mancilla stands, which is more than many ever get.