Marked for Aaron Sandoval
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match21 Apr 2029
It had gone 13 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Player ratings23 Apr 2029
Two goals and a mark of 8.19 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings23 Apr 2029
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.14 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market23 Apr 2029
“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 The request is on a desk at Leones, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings23 Apr 2029
Up for the corner, and Germán Meneses delivers — 7.65
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Germán Meneses scored, was marked 7.65, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad23 Apr 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leones this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match21 Apr 2029
Aguilas Doradas made Leones work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The terraces23 Apr 2029
Leones supporters have found a favourite in Alexis Ríos
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Alexis Ríos 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.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Hector Gonzalez, on a 3‑2 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Nov 2027
A falling-out at Leones
Joyce Ossa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Germán Meneses 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 dugout22 Nov 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.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
Bryan Caicedo asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
Camilo Gómez has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Leones 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.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Juan Sebastián Peña has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Oct 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Leones they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Roinner Fruto and Leones agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Germán Meneses, and the manager let it.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at Leones
Aaron Sandoval 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.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
Leones counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Leones now.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Leones training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Felipe Hincapié 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Sep 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leones this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Sep 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Aaron Sandoval and Leones agree another 4 years.
Squad20 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Leones
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexis Ríos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
Juan José Castaño has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Leones 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
A new face in his position, and Jonathan Marulanda suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Leones have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.