Marked for Howar Cobo
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Jan 2033
Andrey Estupiñán 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.
Squad10 Jan 2033
Words at Llaneros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Camilo Loaiza 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 dugout10 Jan 2033
“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 dugout10 Jan 2033
Jhon Morcillo has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Llaneros 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.
Market10 Jan 2033
The name of Juan Camilo Loaiza keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Llaneros say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad10 Jan 2033
Nerves in the Llaneros squad
Jáder Valencia has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.
The dugout10 Jan 2033
Sergio Falcao 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 Llaneros, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad10 Jan 2033
Víctor Brid wants to know why he earns less
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Llaneros have no good answer.
Market10 Jan 2033
The window shut and Howar Cobo is still in the building
Llaneros spent a month trying to move him and nobody rang back. He trains with a squad that has told him where he stands, and both sides start counting down to the next one.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Aug 2032
The wait goes on for Llaneros
22 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.
Match21 Aug 2032
Beaten 0‑4 by Patriotas, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad23 Aug 2032
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad23 Aug 2032
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.
The dugout23 Aug 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Juan Camilo Loaiza, and the manager let it.
Boardroom23 Aug 2032
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout23 Aug 2032
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑4 Duvan Gomez left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad23 Aug 2032
A booking nobody needed, on a night the game was already won. Llaneros lose a player for the most avoidable reason there is.
The dugout23 Aug 2032
Nicolas Villa has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Llaneros 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Jul 2032
No end in sight to Llaneros's wait for a win
18 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Llaneros has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom26 Jul 2032
Llaneros close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 4 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad26 Jul 2032
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.
Match24 Jul 2032
Llaneros leaking at the back
5 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Match24 Jul 2032
Santa Fe left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad26 Jul 2032
Words at Llaneros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Camilo Loaiza 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.
Player ratings26 Jul 2032
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 10 actions, 6.81, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Player ratings26 Jul 2032
Emilio Pardo beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout26 Jul 2032
Adrián Rivas 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
The manager’s verdict
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Player ratings
Adrián Rivas will replay that one
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Player ratings
A costly moment from Sergio Falcao
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Jul 2032
The wait goes on for Llaneros
15 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.
Boardroom5 Jul 2032
Duvan Gomez has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Llaneros can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The terraces5 Jul 2032
Supporters organise against the Llaneros board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Match5 Jul 2032
Llaneros sink to position 19
15 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Boardroom5 Jul 2032
The scrutiny sharpens at Llaneros
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Llaneros is running low.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2032
The clubs have shaken hands with Barranquilla; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market5 Jul 2032
Howar Cobo 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 Llaneros can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom5 Jul 2032
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad5 Jul 2032
“The easiest signature of my career.” Luis Miranda and Llaneros agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Apr 2032
Jhildrey Lasso 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.
Squad12 Apr 2032
A row about effort at Llaneros
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolas Villa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match10 Apr 2032
A 1‑1 draw with Patriotas leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout12 Apr 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Howar Cobo, and the manager let it.
Player ratings12 Apr 2032
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout12 Apr 2032
Geovan Montes dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The dugout12 Apr 2032
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Duvan Gomez chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Looking ahead12 Apr 2032
Leones next, and one man in the Llaneros dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The dugout12 Apr 2032
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout11 Aug 2031
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Squad11 Aug 2031
A falling-out at Llaneros
Edwin Velasco and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Words at Llaneros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolas Villa 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 dugout11 Aug 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gerson Valencia, and the manager let it.
The dugout11 Aug 2031
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.
The dugout11 Aug 2031
Lisandro Garcia 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets9 Jun 2031
The clubs have shaken hands with Atletico Nacional; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Transfer targets9 Jun 2031
The deal with America de Cali 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.
Match7 Jun 2031
The run at home goes on for Llaneros
11 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad9 Jun 2031
A falling-out at Llaneros
Edwin Velasco and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match7 Jun 2031
Whatever happens, Llaneros do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad9 Jun 2031
14 shut-outs and counting. Goalkeepers are only noticed when they fail, and Juan Camilo Loaiza has given nobody the chance.
Player ratings9 Jun 2031
Emilio Pardo beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad9 Jun 2031
Words at Llaneros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolas Villa 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.
Player ratings9 Jun 2031
A mark of 7.40, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.