The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at La Equidad is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jefferson Barrios 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 finished 1‑0, and it was Jhonier Salas’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to La Equidad.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Jhonier Salas was on a different afternoon to everybody else
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.
8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
23 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at La Equidad is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
54 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. La Equidad lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at La Equidad is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The shirt still fits. Thiago Cattanese is back at La Equidad, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. José García wants continental football; whether La Equidad can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Thiago Cattanese is living that version at La Equidad, and it tends to show in the first month.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
79 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.
“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.
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. La Equidad will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Everything agreed with America de Cali, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Daniel Herrera 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.
Add another name to the list: Bogota have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Camilo Hernandez. The answer from La Equidad has not changed — yet.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Real Santander have kept their man, and La Equidad go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
24 appearances and 17 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around La Equidad they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Camilo Montero 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Juan Cordoba trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at La Equidad will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Position 5 on 61 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Juan Cordoba wants continental football; whether La Equidad can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at La Equidad is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Camilo Montero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Kevin Barrios’s loan is measured in nothing happening
23 clean sheets from 29 appearances at Caracas. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Camilo Montero did not need any: 8.18, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around La Equidad they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Daniel Herrera 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 season average of 7.00 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. La Equidad know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
88 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 clubs have shaken hands with Union Magdalena; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
La Equidad offered $2.2M; Union Magdalena said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Nicolás Castro 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.
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 La Equidad have had the benefit of it.
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.
La Equidad asked and Toluca said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The phone has started ringing about Kevin Barrios again, and this time the name on the line is O'Higgins. La Equidad are listening politely and promising nothing.
The words a physio says slowly. 96 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around La Equidad people have started saying his name in the past tense.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. La Equidad have paid $1.9M for José García, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
$2.1M on the table at Union Magdalena. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Daniel Herrera 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. River Plate have kept their man, and La Equidad go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Carlos Carranza and La Equidad agree another 3 years.
In brief
SquadWords at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Transfer targetsA loan move for Nicolás Castro is in the works
105 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. La Equidad lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. La Equidad have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Jorman Campuzano is a La Equidad player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
The offer went to Atletico Bucaramanga this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
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 La Equidad have had the benefit of it.
Jorman Campuzano was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $2.6M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
10 clean sheets across a season, and the one award on the pitch nobody else is eligible for. Most keepers get through a whole career without a year like it.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad21 Dec 2026
James Romero 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 128 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.
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.
Daniel Herrera 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. James Romero 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
7 new faces, and La Equidad are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
136 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. La Equidad lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Daniel Herrera and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dorlan Pabón 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 La Equidad, and 5 appearances in 15 say he has earned the hearing.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. La Equidad know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutSergio Sanchez asks for a word with the manager
145 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. La Equidad lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and James Romero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Duvan Moreno is on it.
Daniel Herrera 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vitor Andrade was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and David Valencia trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 La Equidad, and it is not being withdrawn.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Steven Hernández and La Equidad agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dorlan Pabón was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad2 Nov 2026
8 new faces, and La Equidad are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. La Equidad know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Steven Hernández arrives at La Equidad with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Sergio Sanchez has written the date down.
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.
At 20 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 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Pablo Herrera 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Sebastian Sanchez after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“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 La Equidad, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dorlan Pabón was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation La Equidad are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
A mark of 7.48, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
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.” Sebastian Sanchez chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“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 hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Camilo Montero did not need any: 7.60, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
Aguilas Doradas made La Equidad work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dorlan Pabón 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vitor Andrade, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Sebastian Sanchez, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Daniel Herrera 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.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. La Equidad will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Javier Muriel commits to La Equidad for another 4 years.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Fiorentina waiting with a shirt. Nobody at La Equidad is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Sevilla paid $31.0M and La Equidad took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Stade Brestois had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The offer from Emirates Club for Camilo Montero 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.
Daniel Herrera and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Richard Gomez 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.
Deportivo Cali will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Keiner Estacio has pre-agreed a move to La Equidad, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Two goals and a mark of 8.66 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The phone has started ringing about Richard Mejia again, and this time the name on the line is Sevilla. La Equidad are listening politely and promising nothing.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at La Equidad hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether La Equidad can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Daniel Herrera 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Richard Gomez 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.