The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Biel did not need any: 7.60, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Freddy Uribe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It needed Biel to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Millonarios, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” James Restrepo was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the La Equidad dressing room was either.
In brief
Looking aheadA test against the best for La Equidad
Successful dribbles: 33. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“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.
5 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.
Diego Martinez 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Freddy Uribe 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.
20 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.
25 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at La Equidad, and it is not being withdrawn.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 is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Freddy Uribe wants continental football; whether La Equidad can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Diego Martinez 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Freddy Uribe 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.
33 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.
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.
Diego Martinez 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 easiest signature of my career.” Diego Sánchez and La Equidad agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Freddy Uribe 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 94. Junior had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
“I did not go to Deportivo La Guaira to sit and watch. I want to come back to La Equidad and fight for my place.” 6 appearances in 12 matches say the rest.
The words a physio says slowly. 120 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.
Diego Martinez 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 Jan 2027
Freddy Uribe 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.
“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 La Equidad will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Rios 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.
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 José Pérez has written the date down.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Camilo Castillo plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
The mood at La Equidad has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Freddy Uribe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
9 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 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 2 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at La Equidad. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Diego Martinez has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
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.
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 name of James Zapata has come up in conversations La Equidad were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. James Zapata is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
In brief
SquadWords at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Add another name to the list: Feyenoord have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Julian Palacios. The answer from La Equidad has not changed — yet.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
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.
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.
6 goals in one match, Cristian Arias on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of La Equidad and Santa Fe.