Marked for Yoimer Pacheco
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Jul 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Union Magdalena, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
“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.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
Deadline passes with 5 signed and 11 gone
That is the business done at Union Magdalena until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alejandro Herrera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Club America have kept their man, and Union Magdalena go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Cristian Iguarán 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 dugout26 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Bautista Farías
“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.
Match24 Jul 2027
It finished 1‑0, and it was Joel Contreras’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Union Magdalena.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.33, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market26 Apr 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Union Magdalena, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match26 Apr 2027
Every point is an argument now for Union Magdalena
Position 18 and 12 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Match24 Apr 2027
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Union Magdalena are no longer polite ones.
Match24 Apr 2027
Deportivo Cali left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Edwin Laszo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Julian Hernandez to a room that had heard them before.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yoimer Pacheco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Jan 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Union Magdalena have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad11 Jan 2027
José Mercado is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Cristian Iguarán 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 dugout11 Jan 2027
“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 dugout11 Jan 2027
Daniel Mera is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Yoimer Pacheco 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Víctor Cabezas signs something — a contract at Union Magdalena or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Loan watch11 Jan 2027
12 appearances away from home and 6 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Jhoan Pinto: “I am not a substitute”
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Union Magdalena will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces2 Nov 2026
Anger at Union Magdalena spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match31 Oct 2026
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Envigado the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Union Magdalena will enjoy reviewing.
Match2 Nov 2026
11 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market2 Nov 2026
Jimmy Congo has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Union Magdalena they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
No sign of nerves from Cristian Iguarán at 21 — 7.92
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Cristian Iguarán did not need any: 7.92, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Union Magdalena may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.91, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“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
Uneasy
Market19 Oct 2026
“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 Oct 2026
Gabriel Arrieta is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jhoan Montoya and Union Magdalena agree another 4 years.
Match17 Oct 2026
The goal that put Alianza Petrolera ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Union Magdalena equalised, 1 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Humberto Acevedo for 16 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Union Magdalena will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Jimmy Congo
“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.
Match17 Oct 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Daniel Mera is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Squad19 Oct 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Union Magdalena's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Union Magdalena has to find a result from somewhere.
Market28 Sep 2026
“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.
Match26 Sep 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Union Magdalena and Jaguares in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match26 Sep 2026
Jaguares left with the points after a 2‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad28 Sep 2026
José Mercado in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Union Magdalena this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Union Magdalena
12 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 2‑4 defeat, delivered by Julian Hernandez to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Edwin Laszo
“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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Yoimer Pacheco 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.