Marked for Ricardo Correa
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Richard Cardona, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.76
A mark of 7.76 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.91, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match31 Oct 2026
A 1‑0 win over Deportivo Cali, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 18, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 6.71, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Squad2 Nov 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 La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Rafael Tapia is no longer first choice
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Rafael Tapia has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Oct 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match24 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for La Equidad
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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rafael Tapia and La Equidad agree another 3 years.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Darío Rodríguez, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Wilmar Giraldo 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Richard Cardona 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.98, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daniel Gomez and La Equidad agree another 1 years.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at La Equidad
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Wilmar Giraldo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Luis 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.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Wilmar Cuadrado to a room that had heard them before.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Richard Cardona named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Richard Cardona is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Francisco Falcao, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.96, and nobody on the pitch better.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” La Equidad may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match26 Sep 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
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.
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 La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Wilmar Cuadrado left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Wilmar Giraldo 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Aug 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” PSV had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A brace, and Duvan Mejia takes the afternoon — 8.21
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Duvan Mejia provided it, and the 8.21 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Ricardo Correa, 33, rolls back the years — 8.46
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.46 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match29 Aug 2026
The wait goes on for La Equidad
5 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 ratings31 Aug 2026
Wilmar Giraldo pops up at the right end — 7.59
7.59, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Match29 Aug 2026
5 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Richard Cardona 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 terraces31 Aug 2026
The crowd has taken to Duvan Mejia
At 22 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
4‑4, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. La Equidad have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market24 Aug 2026
Leixões come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and La Equidad did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to La Equidad's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at La Equidad has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A row about effort at La Equidad
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Wilmar Giraldo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match22 Aug 2026
No clean sheets in sight for La Equidad
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Match22 Aug 2026
America de Cali left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Duvan Mejia, and the manager let it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Julian Barrios and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Wilmar Cuadrado after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Aug 2026
The small margins put La Equidad out
Out, 2‑3 to Jaguares, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Market17 Aug 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Arouca had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market17 Aug 2026
Vizela come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and La Equidad did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.39, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Wilmar Giraldo 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Once Caldas left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Luis Rodriguez 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.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oscar Barreto, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
$15.6M from OGC Nice for Johan Giraldo. Money is money, but the dressing room has lost the man it looked to.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A move Oscar Barreto would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Oscar Barreto is living that version at La Equidad, and it tends to show in the first month.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
La Equidad sell a favourite for $15.6M
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Johan Giraldo was one of the reasons people came, and $15.6M does not replace that by itself.
Market10 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and La Equidad did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Wilmar Giraldo commits to La Equidad for another 4 years.
Market10 Aug 2026
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Match8 Aug 2026
2‑3 to Santa Fe, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad10 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 La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.