Marked for Ferney Rivadeneira
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at Patriotas
Iván Camacho 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Kevin Álvarez 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 dugout15 Nov 2027
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 Juan Esteban Sánchez is on it.
Market15 Nov 2027
Camilo Tapasco is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Patriotas has been clear about where Camilo Tapasco stands, which is more than many ever get.
Market15 Nov 2027
The Michael Nike story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Michael Nike signs something — a contract at Patriotas or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
Kevin Álvarez 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 dugout15 Nov 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Squad15 Nov 2027
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Éder Chaux is the talk of the training ground
Sharpest man there all week, by every account. It is the quietest line on this page and it usually runs the week before somebody’s run in the side begins.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 Nov 2027
Only the photograph left for Kevin Álvarez
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kevin Álvarez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Patriotas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Johan Campaña 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 dugout1 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Iván Centurión
“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.
Squad1 Nov 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 Patriotas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
Michael Nike knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Michael Nike trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Patriotas than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Jul 2027
Kevin Álvarez 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 Patriotas can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Patriotas may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Johan Campaña 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.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Patriotas asked and Independiente said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market19 Jul 2027
The phone has started ringing about Jonnier Torres again, and this time the name on the line is Once Caldas. Patriotas are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Ángel Méndez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Freyn Macleyn
“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.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Guarani have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
Éder Chaux 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 Éder Chaux is on it.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Squad
Bookings catch up with Simón García
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Player ratings
Carlos Copete runs at them all day
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets14 Dec 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Patriotas have done the hard part with Real Santander, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Boardroom14 Dec 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $44.5K — a club that wants Miguel Aguirre enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets14 Dec 2026
$410.0K was the most the club would pay and Independiente Medellin were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Market14 Dec 2026
The shirt still fits. Camilo Tapasco is back at Patriotas, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Transfer targets14 Dec 2026
The offer went to Deportivo Pereira this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets14 Dec 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Patriotas
Sebastián Moreno 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.
Market14 Dec 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Patriotas have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Patriotas
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Álvarez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.