Marked for Daniel Herrera
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad4 Jan 2027
Francisco Herrera damages knee ligaments — 15 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 15 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market4 Jan 2027
Cortulua say no — this time
The offer from Santa Fe for Fábio Fernandes 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Cortulua have had the benefit of it.
Market4 Jan 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 The request is on a desk at Cortulua, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Juan Rodriguez 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
The phone has started ringing about Pedro Di María again, and this time the name on the line is Depor. Cortulua are listening politely and promising nothing.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Nov 2026
Francisco Herrera damages knee ligaments — 54 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 54 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match27 Nov 2026
Cortulua do the business in Europe
2‑0. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and Cortulua came through the finding-out well against Colo-Colo.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 35. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Cortulua may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market30 Nov 2026
Cortulua may not be able to give Fabian Mina what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Fabian Mina wants continental football; whether Cortulua can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Match27 Nov 2026
Nobody wants to play Cortulua right now
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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Fábio Fernandes 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Cortulua training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Herrera 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 ratings30 Nov 2026
Marked 8.26 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad28 Sep 2026
Francisco Herrera damages knee ligaments — 119 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 119 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
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.
Market28 Sep 2026
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Match26 Sep 2026
Cortulua make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Cortulua have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad28 Sep 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Cortulua training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustavo Castillo 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Fábio Fernandes. 3‑1 against Once Caldas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.55, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.31 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 50. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Francisco Herrera damages knee ligaments — 151 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 151 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Juan Rodriguez: 3 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match26 Aug 2026
Cortulua march on in the cup
Atletico Nacional 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.
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.
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.
Match29 Aug 2026
A 1‑0 win over Millonarios, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad31 Aug 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
The kick that got away from Jose Uribe
Twelve yards, a goalkeeper guessing, and it still did not go in. He will take the next one, and every soul in the ground will hold their breath.