Marked for Aníbal Paz
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Dec 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match4 Dec 2030
Colo-Colo bow out of the cup
Universidad de Chile go through and Colo-Colo go home, 1‑5 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market9 Dec 2030
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Colo-Colo have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The terraces9 Dec 2030
It finished 1-5. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Market9 Dec 2030
“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 The request is on a desk at Colo-Colo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad9 Dec 2030
Aaron Silva gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Aaron Silva has just signed for Colo-Colo, and for once the answer mattered.
Market9 Dec 2030
Only the photograph left for Aníbal Paz
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Aníbal Paz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colo-Colo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market9 Dec 2030
The name of Mathías Laborda has come up in conversations Colo-Colo were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad9 Dec 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Matías Fernández and Colo-Colo agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Nov 2030
Only the photograph left for Enzo Copetti
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Enzo Copetti will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colo-Colo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad25 Nov 2030
Matías Fernández and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market25 Nov 2030
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Nicolás Tolosa wants continental football; whether Colo-Colo can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad25 Nov 2030
Gabriel Suazo 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 dugout25 Nov 2030
The manager makes an example of Nahuel Estévez
“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 dugout25 Nov 2030
Tomás Alarcón gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Tomás Alarcón is on it.
Market25 Nov 2030
Aníbal Paz told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Aníbal Paz has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Colo-Colo.
Market25 Nov 2030
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Colo-Colo know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout25 Nov 2030
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mathías Laborda trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Loan watch21 Oct 2030
31 appearances at San Martín SJ and the goals keep coming. Colo-Colo are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Squad21 Oct 2030
Carlos Sierra breaks a bone — 131 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 131 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout21 Oct 2030
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market21 Oct 2030
“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 Colo-Colo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market21 Oct 2030
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Colo-Colo can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Market21 Oct 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colo-Colo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad21 Oct 2030
Matías Fernández and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Oct 2030
A row about effort at Colo-Colo
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tomás Alarcón was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Oct 2030
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Loan watch29 Jul 2030
The goals keep arriving from Felipe Karabulut’s exile
25 goals in 23 games at San Martín SJ — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Colo-Colo updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Market29 Jul 2030
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Colo-Colo have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The dugout29 Jul 2030
Augusto Berrondo: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Colo-Colo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market29 Jul 2030
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colo-Colo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market29 Jul 2030
“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 Colo-Colo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match27 Jul 2030
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 9 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Squad29 Jul 2030
Matías Fernández and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Jul 2030
Claudio Torres arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Claudio Torres has, at Colo-Colo, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Market29 Jul 2030
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Colo-Colo can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match20 Jul 2030
Colo-Colo make it 9 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Colo-Colo have 9 straight wins of it.
Market22 Jul 2030
“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.
Match22 Jul 2030
Colo-Colo refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 56 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Player ratings22 Jul 2030
Age has not caught Enzo Copetti yet — 8.07
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.07 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market22 Jul 2030
Only the photograph left for Rodrigo Ureña
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rodrigo Ureña will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colo-Colo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom22 Jul 2030
Window shuts: 8 in, 12 out at Colo-Colo
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 8 arrived, 12 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad22 Jul 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market22 Jul 2030
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.
Player ratings22 Jul 2030
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match12 Jun 2030
Colo-Colo march on in the cup
Union Espanola are out and Colo-Colo go through, 2‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Market17 Jun 2030
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Colo-Colo people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market17 Jun 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colo-Colo can pretend not to have heard.
Market17 Jun 2030
Only the photograph left for Rodrigo Ureña
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rodrigo Ureña will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colo-Colo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match15 Jun 2030
Colo-Colo make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Colo-Colo have 4 straight wins of it.
Player ratings17 Jun 2030
Aníbal Paz beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market17 Jun 2030
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.
Boardroom17 Jun 2030
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match11 May 2030
0‑5 to Universidad de Chile, 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.
Match11 May 2030
The run is over for Colo-Colo
14 matches without defeat, and then Universidad de Chile. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Match13 May 2030
Colo-Colo are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 32 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market13 May 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colo-Colo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout13 May 2030
Aníbal Paz: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Colo-Colo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad13 May 2030
Words exchanged at Colo-Colo
Matías Fernández 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.
Squad13 May 2030
Tomás Alarcón 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.
Loan watch13 May 2030
The goals keep arriving from Felipe Karabulut’s exile
15 goals in 13 games at San Martín SJ — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Colo-Colo updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Looking ahead13 May 2030
Top-of-the-table clash for Colo-Colo
Universidad Catolica next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Valentin Vidal
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Boardroom
Nobody left the Colo-Colo dressing room in a hurry
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match6 Apr 2030
Nobody wants to play Colo-Colo right now
9 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Market8 Apr 2030
“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 Colo-Colo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market8 Apr 2030
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Juan Pablo De la Reta wants continental football; whether Colo-Colo can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Player ratings8 Apr 2030
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Matías Fernández and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Apr 2030
A muscle injury sidelines Agustín Venezia for 16 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Colo-Colo will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Cristián Díaz arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Cristián Díaz has, at Colo-Colo, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Match6 Apr 2030
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Colo-Colo. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Boardroom8 Apr 2030
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Dec 2029
Brayan Hurtado damages knee ligaments — 31 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 31 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.
Market31 Dec 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Colo-Colo people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets31 Dec 2029
$8.5M on the table at Santiago Wanderers. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Market31 Dec 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 Colo-Colo, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout31 Dec 2029
Antonio Ceza: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Colo-Colo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market31 Dec 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colo-Colo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Words exchanged at Colo-Colo
Matías Fernández 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.
Market31 Dec 2029
The shirt still fits. Aníbal Paz is back at Colo-Colo, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Aníbal Paz arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Aníbal Paz has, at Colo-Colo, and the first month will show what that does to a man.