Marked for Ezequiel Cortés
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Richard González
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Deportivo Colonia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.12, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Maximiliano Rao 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Deportivo Colonia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Torena 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.
Match10 Apr 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Fabio Vázquez. 2‑1 against Sud America, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces12 Apr 2027
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Joel Lew 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.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Ezequiel Cortés was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.18. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Ivan De Arrascaeta kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Richard González
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Deportivo Colonia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Valentín Nogueira 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Agustín 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
At 37, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
The dugout29 Mar 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.
Looking ahead29 Mar 2027
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Feb 2027
Richard González damages knee ligaments — 88 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 88 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Maximiliano Rao and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Deportivo Colonia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Agustín Rodríguez 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.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
143% of the income goes out in wages at Deportivo Colonia
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 dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Ezequiel Cortés
“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.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Marked 7.81 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Deportivo Colonia had the best player on the pitch.
Match20 Feb 2027
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Looking ahead22 Feb 2027
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Atenas.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Richard González
116 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Deportivo Colonia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ezequiel Cortés was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
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.