Marked for André Maldonado
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market19 May 2031
“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.
Squad19 May 2031
Miguel García 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.
Match17 May 2031
Once Caldas left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout19 May 2031
Kevin Medina 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.
The dugout19 May 2031
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout19 May 2031
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Marcelo Herrera will call it something else in private.
The dugout19 May 2031
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and André Maldonado trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market19 May 2031
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Felipe Cuadrado signs something — a contract at Universitario Popayan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Match19 May 2031
27 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market12 May 2031
“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 The request is on a desk at Universitario Popayan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match10 May 2031
3 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.
Squad12 May 2031
Miguel García 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 May 2031
Defences have started doubling up on Miguel Lemos
13 goals and a season average of 7.27 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad12 May 2031
Words at Universitario Popayan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Rofrano 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 ratings12 May 2031
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings12 May 2031
Ninety minutes of Miguel Lemos at his very best
Marked 8.03. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Universitario Popayan.
The dugout12 May 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Manuel Restrepo, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Apr 2031
A fracture rules Gastón Costas out for 30 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Universitario Popayan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market14 Apr 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Universitario Popayan can pretend not to have heard.
Squad14 Apr 2031
Miguel García 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.
Match12 Apr 2031
A 2‑0 win over Depor, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad14 Apr 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcelo Herrera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings14 Apr 2031
A performance of 8.18 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout14 Apr 2031
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Interim Coach on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout14 Apr 2031
Franco Rofrano 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 Universitario Popayan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market14 Apr 2031
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces31 Mar 2031
The mood at Universitario Popayan has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad31 Mar 2031
Gastón Costas breaks a bone — 44 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market31 Mar 2031
“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 Universitario Popayan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 Mar 2031
Federico Marcucci 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.
Player ratings31 Mar 2031
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Boardroom31 Mar 2031
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad31 Mar 2031
André Maldonado 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.
Match29 Mar 2031
It needed José Rivera to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Valledupar, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout31 Mar 2031
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.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Jan 2031
Gastón Costas breaks a bone — 121 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 121 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match13 Jan 2031
Position 12, 15 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Boardroom13 Jan 2031
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad13 Jan 2031
Richard Ospina 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.
The dugout13 Jan 2031
“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.
Squad13 Jan 2031
Johan Ospina 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.
Squad13 Jan 2031
André Maldonado arrived with a record at a bigger club than this one, and the room has treated him accordingly. The young ones watch him train; the senior ones watch to see whether it lasts.
The dugout13 Jan 2031
James Perez 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 James Perez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.