Marked for Alejandro Vargas
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Dec 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jorge Restrepo
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Valledupar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market13 Dec 2027
The offer from Universitario Popayan for Carlos Sanchez 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.
Market13 Dec 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Valledupar can pretend not to have heard.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Jorge Restrepo 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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
José Parraguez gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. José Parraguez has just signed for Valledupar, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Valledupar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Freddy Caicedo 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.
Transfer targets13 Dec 2027
Deportivo Pereira have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
Hector Romero knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hector Romero trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Valledupar told Paulo Oliveira something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Nov 2027
Hector Romero and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Valledupar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Freddy Caicedo 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
16 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Oct 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Jorge Restrepo 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
The medical room confirms 44 days on the sidelines for Pablo Rodriguez, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Sep 2027
Diego Moreno 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 Valledupar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Hugo Cuadrado 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 dugout27 Sep 2027
Diego Moreno 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 dugout27 Sep 2027
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.
Market27 Sep 2027
Valledupar have made Jorge Restrepo available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Match27 Sep 2027
Valledupar in the hunt for Europe
Position 6, 35 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Sep 2027
Hector Romero and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Edwin Gonzalez is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Freddy Caicedo 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 dugout20 Sep 2027
Diego Moreno knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Valledupar, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Paulo Oliveira, and the manager let it.
Market20 Sep 2027
Valledupar have made Alejandro Vargas available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Aug 2027
Jorge Restrepo 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Valledupar
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Freddy Caicedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Valledupar, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Aug 2027
Diego Moreno 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 Valledupar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Valledupar
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hugo Cuadrado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad2 Aug 2027
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.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
Diego Moreno 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Diego Moreno moves up the pecking order
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Valledupar than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Market2 Aug 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
Andres Lemos has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Valledupar 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.
Market2 Aug 2027
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Match2 Aug 2027
Continental football is in reach for Valledupar
35 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market25 Jan 2027
“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.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
5 academy graduates step up at Valledupar
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Mauricio Liñán and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market25 Jan 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Gustavo Garcia 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.
Market25 Jan 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Freddy Mina is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market25 Jan 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Manuel Cardona 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.
Match23 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout25 Jan 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Mateo Ramirez to a room that had heard them before.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
Valledupar turn down the training-ground plan
It is the quietest way a club tells you what its ambitions are. The money was asked for, the money was refused, and the people who work there every day now know exactly where they stand.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Freddy Caicedo
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Valledupar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Juan Rios 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 Valledupar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Valledupar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago Ospina 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
The Valledupar board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Juan Rios 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 Valledupar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Valledupar
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Miguel Barrios was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Valledupar will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Freddy Caicedo knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Valledupar, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
Juan Rios 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 Valledupar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Freddy Caicedo 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 dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Jorge Restrepo
“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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Valledupar know which stage they are at.
Market5 Oct 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
Juan Rios and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Sep 2026
25 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Freddy Caicedo 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.