It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Pasto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jaider Victoria trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Deportivo Pasto. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
SquadTiago Peñalba is training like a man with a point to make
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Llaneros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Llaneros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brayan Hurtado 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 afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Néider Ospina wants continental football; whether Llaneros can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Deportivo Pasto held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Llaneros answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Kelvin Osorio 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.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Llaneros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kelvin Osorio 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 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.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Llaneros told Juan David Viáfara something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Luther Rueda’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Llaneros needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Llaneros will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Francisco Meza 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atletico Bucaramanga have kept their man, and Llaneros go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Llaneros will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
12 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Llaneros will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The deal that would have taken Kevin Armesto to Deportes Quindio has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Llaneros with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Llaneros can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 5 gone
That is the business done at Llaneros until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Llaneros can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The deal with Deportivo Pasto is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Llaneros 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Llaneros training over how hard people work
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Kelvin Osorio
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Deportivo Pasto people have started saying his name in the past tense.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Deportivo Pasto can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Deportivo Pasto had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Colo-Colo, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Boca Juniors have kept their man, and Deportivo Pasto go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Tiago Peñalba 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Deportivo Pasto have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Deportivo Pasto can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yhormar Hurtado 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.
Tiago Peñalba 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 name of Kevin López has come up in conversations Deportivo Pasto were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Deportivo Pasto people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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.
The deal with River Plate is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Cortulua paid $310.0K and Deportivo Pasto took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Deportivo Pasto asked and Boca Juniors said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Tiago Peñalba 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.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Deportivo Pereira kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Deportivo Pasto will be asked about the last half hour all week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo Pasto this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.01 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“I watch every Deportivo Pasto game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Baltika runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Deportivo Pasto is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. John Méndez has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“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 Deportivo Pasto, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marco Espíndola will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Deportivo Pasto the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Deportivo Pasto can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Pablo Arias to a room that had heard them before.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Luther Rueda 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.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
Esneyder Mena is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Two goals and a mark of 8.39 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 Deportivo Pasto, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ronald Mayo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Deportivo Pasto the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.99 beside his name.
The goal that put Cortulua ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Deportivo Pasto equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
David Guerrero 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Deportivo Pasto, another week without a signature from Jéferson Medina.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Shinnik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nikita Kotin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shinnik the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Oleg Nikiforenko 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artur Sagitov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“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.
The dugout1 Nov 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Lev Samoylov to a room that had heard them before.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
In brief
Looking aheadShinnik take on the side everybody is chasing
64 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Shinnik lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Shinnik they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad20 Sep 2027
A muscle injury sidelines Luther Rueda for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Shinnik will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Shinnik asked and Dinamo Makhachkala said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Shinnik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Artur Sagitov 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.
“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 dugout20 Sep 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Lev Samoylov to a room that had heard them before.
The words a physio says slowly. 71 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.
13 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 12 arrived, 12 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Shinnik is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Oleg Nikiforenko 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Vitaliy Myronenko has just signed for Shinnik, and for once the answer mattered.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Moscow have kept their man, and Shinnik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Artur Sagitov 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.
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.
“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 Deportivo Pasto, and it is not being withdrawn.
6 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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Bragantino keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Deportivo Pasto can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Everything agreed with Boca Juniors, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The fee is $150.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Fortaleza CEIF drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Patrick Preciado 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.
Add another name to the list: Criciúma have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Luther Rueda. The answer from Deportivo Pasto has not changed — yet.
Deportivo Pasto have made the call to Bragantino. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
A brace, and Luka Romero takes the afternoon — 8.43
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Luka Romero provided it, and the 8.43 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
A 2‑0 win over Alianza Petrolera, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
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.