Two goals and a mark of 8.56 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between La Equidad and Llaneros, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
A performance of 8.31 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Styven Monsalve 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. La Equidad told José Pérez something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Carlos Paternina is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. La Equidad told Jhoan Montoya something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Martín Rea 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.
A performance of 9.33 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ayron del Valle 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Carlos Paternina. 3‑1 against Llaneros, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
8.01. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad13 Mar 2028
The division's best last weekend was a La Equidad man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Carlos Paternina was the best thing in any of them.
Ayron del Valle 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 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” José Pérez has his answer from La Equidad; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. La Equidad have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Harrinson Mancilla and La Equidad agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. La Equidad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 8.59 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Juan Diego Ceballos 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ayron del Valle 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.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. La Equidad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom24 Jan 2028
6 academy players handed senior numbers at La Equidad
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Wilmar Romero is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Fabian Borja has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Leonardo Borja has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. La Equidad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what La Equidad can pretend not to have heard.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason La Equidad will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Oscar Lemos has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason La Equidad will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom1 Nov 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at La Equidad
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what La Equidad can pretend not to have heard.
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.
7 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 shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what La Equidad can pretend not to have heard.
Ayron del Valle 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Pablo Gallego 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason La Equidad will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Oscar Lemos recited it perfectly.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cortulua can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
Ivan Giraldo, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.89
A mark of 7.89 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Luis Torres was one of the reasons people came, and $620.0K does not replace that by itself.
Luis Zapata 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.
La Equidad paid $620.0K and Cortulua took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Three points for Cortulua, 1‑0 the final word against Patriotas in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Cortulua training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Núñez 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Cortulua, and 0 appearances in 23 say he has earned the hearing.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 68 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Luis Torres from Cortulua for $620.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$5.3M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
He is going to Junior, the club has $5.3M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ivan Giraldo did not need any: 7.62, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Oscar Gomez 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.
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.
In brief
SquadKevin Núñez falls out with a teammate over standards
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cortulua can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Junior for Edwin Uribe 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.50 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Bautista Iglesias was one of the reasons people came, and $970.0K does not replace that by itself.
The terraces7 Jun 2027
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 6 of the 24 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Player ratings7 Jun 2027
Ivan Giraldo, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.64
A mark of 7.64 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 7 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Atletico Bucaramanga paid $970.0K and Cortulua took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.93 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
“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.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Cortulua training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Núñez 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.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Alejandro Moreno, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.15
A mark of 8.15 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Oscar Gomez 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.
At 19 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.
“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.
Squad17 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Luis Zapata's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“I watch every Cortulua game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Deportes Tolima runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
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.
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.
“I watch every Cortulua game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Deportes Tolima runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
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.
0‑1 to Envigado, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Kevin Núñez 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.
Juan Manuel Valencia 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.
“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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Cortulua training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Núñez 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Cortulua, and 0 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
5 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cortulua can pretend not to have heard.
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
The terraces8 Mar 2027
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 10 of the 27 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Ivan Giraldo, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.19
A mark of 8.19 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cortulua have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
11 goals in one match, Edwin Uribe on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Cortulua and Atletico Bucaramanga.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Ivan Giraldo obliged against Alianza Petrolera. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Cortulua.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.17 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Oscar Gomez 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Edwin Uribe. 2‑1 against Deportes Quindio, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Ivan Giraldo has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Kevin Núñez 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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.41 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
“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.
The terraces8 Feb 2027
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 10 of the 27 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Juan Manuel Valencia 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 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bautista Iglesias and Cortulua agree another 4 years.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Cortulua has been clear about where Pablo Palacios stands, which is more than many ever get.
In brief
SquadWords at Cortulua training over how hard people work
4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
A brace, and Ivan Giraldo takes the afternoon — 8.25
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ivan Giraldo provided it, and the 8.25 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Oscar Gomez wants continental football; whether Cortulua can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Cortulua training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fernando Álvarez 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Cortulua has been clear about where Edwin Uribe stands, which is more than many ever get.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Cortulua will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Edwin Uribe 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A season's verdict on Ivan Giraldo: the best of his age
Cortulua have a 19-year-old the division has just voted its finest young footballer. The club's next problem is that everybody else now knows it too.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Cortulua will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
The fee is $1.4M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Deportivo Cali drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The offer from Real Cartagena for Richard Ramirez 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cortulua can pretend not to have heard.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cortulua will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Oscar Gomez wants continental football; whether Cortulua can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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.