It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Envigado this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Edison López 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 board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Envigado can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Envigado have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Envigado this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Envigado game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Atletico Bucaramanga runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“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 The request is on a desk at Real Cartagena, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marcel Vergara will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Real Cartagena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Juan David Rodríguez 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 22 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
A 1‑0 win over Aguilas Doradas, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
In brief
SquadDefences have started doubling up on Ronaldo Lora
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Real Cartagena have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Ronaldo Lora 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.
Marked 8.61 — 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Real Cartagena is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Juan David Rodríguez 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Real Cartagena have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Real Cartagena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Juan David Rodríguez 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.
A 1‑0 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.
In brief
Player ratingsA defender's afternoon for Ronaldo Lora
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marcel Vergara will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Real Cartagena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Juan David Rodríguez 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.
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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marcel Vergara will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Real Cartagena the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Juan David Rodríguez 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.
Marked 8.72 — 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.
Real Cartagena interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Victor Moreno keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Juan David Rodríguez and Real Cartagena agree another 2 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Cartagena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Cartagena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Real Cartagena can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Real Cartagena have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Cartagena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Real Cartagena, and 6 appearances in 29 say he has earned the hearing.