Marked for Javier Ramirez
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Mar 2028
Andres Palacios and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Universitario Popayan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luca Proda 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 dugout27 Mar 2028
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 Camilo Caicedo is on it.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luca Acevedo, and the manager let it.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
Luis Landazury 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Universitario Popayan will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Jan 2028
Pablo Herrera hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Universitario Popayan can pretend not to have heard.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Andres Palacios 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.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
America de Cali wanted more than $140.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Richard Muriel, and the manager let it.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luca Acevedo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
Felipe Rodriguez 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market30 Aug 2027
Ivan Barrios hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Universitario Popayan can pretend not to have heard.
Squad30 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Universitario Popayan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Aug 2027
At 19 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.
Boardroom30 Aug 2027
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Hugo 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 dugout30 Aug 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces23 Aug 2027
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Match23 Aug 2027
Position 11, 18 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Andres Palacios and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Richard Muriel, and the manager let it.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Universitario Popayan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorge 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.