Marked for Rafael Sanchez
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Aug 2026
2 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Match26 Aug 2026
Cortulua march on in the cup
Deportivo Cali are out and Cortulua go through, 0‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Market31 Aug 2026
Cortulua say no — this time
The offer from Albacete for Liam Navarro was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Match29 Aug 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Cortulua did not have in the autumn.
Match29 Aug 2026
3 matches without a goal for Cortulua
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad31 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cortulua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A penalty is the one moment in football with nowhere to hide, and he did not score it. The walk back was long and the week will be longer.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
16 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market24 Aug 2026
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Match19 Aug 2026
Cortulua through in the cup
A 1‑0 win over Once Caldas, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cortulua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match22 Aug 2026
Still nobody has beaten Cortulua
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.05, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Rafael Sanchez
“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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
7.60, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Cortulua had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Pablo Rangel dropped after a run of poor form
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Squad
Jorge Ramirez finally opens his account
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” David Muriel and Cortulua agree another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
David Muriel 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Cortulua will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Cortulua training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wilmar Torres 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.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Richard Sinisterra, and the manager let it.
Match8 Aug 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 dugout10 Aug 2026
Jorge Ramirez 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 dugout10 Aug 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Cristian Caicedo after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.