Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Millonarios they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Millonarios training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Che Adams 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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Cortulua defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
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.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
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.” Diego Vargas chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
The unglamorous genius of a well-written contract. Jorge Herrera is somebody else's player now, and $140.0K has arrived because the people who sold him thought further ahead than the transfer window.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Millonarios have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Millonarios training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Che Adams 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.
Luis Marimón 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Millonarios heard it as anything else.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Nicolás Arévalo wants continental football; whether Millonarios can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
A 1‑0 win over Independiente Medellin, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
A performance of 8.16 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Millonarios training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stiven Vega 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 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.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Millonarios have paid $11.9M for Che Adams, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Millonarios people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Che Adams from Norwich City for $11.9M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Millonarios training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Che Adams 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
In brief
The dugoutJavier Burrai has become a man the manager trusts
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Atletico Venezuela waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Millonarios is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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. Millonarios will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Millonarios asked and Tigres 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 name of Jorge Herrera has come up in conversations Millonarios were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Fabián Suárez Chalares 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.
Millonarios have gone to Nacional with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Millonarios people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Millonarios and Fortaleza CEIF have settled on $1.1M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Everything agreed with Deportivo Pereira, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Santiago Simón wants continental football; whether Millonarios can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $224.7K — a club that wants Fabián Suárez Chalares enough to be asked twice.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Millonarios have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Millonarios can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
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.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Stiven Vega is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Millonarios training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Martín 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.
La Equidad next, and one man in the Millonarios dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Position 4, 57 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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Millonarios have no good answer.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Everybody at Millonarios saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 33 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Alejandro Romero after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Millonarios will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Estoril Praia for Jorge Herrera 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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Millonarios will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Millonarios they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Millonarios can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luca Martínez Dupuy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Millonarios will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Millonarios have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
10 seasons and 68 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Millonarios is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Millonarios can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luca Martínez Dupuy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Millonarios will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.83 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Real Santander waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Millonarios is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Millonarios can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Millonarios training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luca Martínez Dupuy 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.
Danovis Banguero 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Millonarios will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Richardson Rivas did not need any: 8.39, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Carlos Sarabia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Millonarios the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Estoril Praia waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Millonarios is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Santiago Giordana reports back to Millonarios with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.11 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.55 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Valledupar waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Millonarios is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The name of Santiago Giordana has come up in conversations Millonarios were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Fortaleza CEIF have kept their man, and Millonarios go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Millonarios offered $1.0M; Tigres 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Millonarios can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Real Santander waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Millonarios is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Alex Moreno Paz had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Leon have kept their man, and Millonarios go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Millonarios have gone to Tigres with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Luca Martínez Dupuy provided it, and the 9.10 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Millonarios have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Millonarios is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Santiago Giordana has his answer from Millonarios; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Sebastián Mosquera 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.17 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Millonarios is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Danovis Banguero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Matías de los Santos 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Millonarios have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Millonarios is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
At 21 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.
At 33, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Millonarios training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danovis Banguero 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.
8.13. 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.
Danovis Banguero 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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Nobody at Millonarios 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Millonarios training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Martín 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Atletico Bucaramanga in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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 Jorge Herrera has written the date down.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Millonarios is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Minute 91, against Aguilas Doradas, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Jorge Arias 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 1‑0 win over Independiente Medellin, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Millonarios can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Nobody at Millonarios 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Samuel Martín 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.
Position 2, 24 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Tigres waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Millonarios is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $3.6M has been paid because Jorman Campuzano is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Fortaleza CEIF have kept their man, and Millonarios go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Jorman Campuzano from Atletico Nacional for $3.6M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Millonarios this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everybody at Millonarios saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 33 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
In brief
SquadWords at Millonarios training over how hard people work
43 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 97 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Jorge Herrera was one of the reasons people came, and $990.0K does not replace that by itself.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. La Equidad had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Real Cartagena have kept their man, and La Equidad go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Bryan Caicedo was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $390.0K. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Edwin Laszo 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.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
$6.2M was the most the club would pay and Santos Laguna were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Millonarios had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Deportes Tolima have kept their man, and Millonarios go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The chase for Jonathan Marulanda ended with $630.0K changing hands and Leones out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Jonathan Marulanda is living that version at Millonarios, and it tends to show in the first month.
9 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.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Luca Martínez Dupuy from Godoy Cruz for $9.1M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
America de Cali go through and Millonarios go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Everything agreed with Godoy Cruz, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Fortaleza CEIF did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $1.4M for Richardson Rivas, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Millonarios asked and La Equidad said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
8.21. 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 115 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 offer went to Leones 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at La Equidad has been clear about where Rafael Borja stands, which is more than many ever get.
Fortaleza CEIF have accepted the money. What Millonarios do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Millonarios offered $1.7M; La Equidad 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.
Everything agreed with Fortaleza CEIF, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
$990.0K on the table at La Equidad. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Add another name to the list: Real Santander have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Alex Moreno Paz. The answer from Millonarios has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Danovis Banguero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
2‑0 against Atletico Venezuela, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 125 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Juan Pablo Díaz will call it something else in private.
“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.
Cristian Torres and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Alfredo Cardona was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.16. 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Diego Vargas on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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 Alfredo Cardona is on it.
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 Luis Orejuela is on it.
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 Nov 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.” Diego Vargas chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
2‑0 against Penarol, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Jorge Herrera was at the centre of the description.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A brace, and Jorge Herrera takes the afternoon — 8.93
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jorge Herrera provided it, and the 8.93 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.62, and 2 involvements.
Edwin Laszo 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Juan José Aguilar and La Equidad agree another 3 years.
Independiente Medellin held the lead for 1 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. La Equidad answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
The dugout26 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 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Diego Vargas to a room that had heard them before.
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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Rafael Borja wants continental football; whether La Equidad can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jorge Herrera. 1‑0 against Deportivo Pasto, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Diego Vargas on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
2‑0 against Atletico Venezuela, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Two goals and a mark of 8.96 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The first defeat in 9 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Deportivo Pereira; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Cristian Torres 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
A brace, and Jorge Herrera takes the afternoon — 9.10
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jorge Herrera provided it, and the 9.10 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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.
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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Santa Clara will make the call about Felipe Mina this week. La Equidad have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
6 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.
The dugout14 Sep 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.” Diego Vargas, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Bari moved on, Jorge Herrera reports back to La Equidad, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Sebastian Cuadrado 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 award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. La Equidad have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Alfredo Cardona has come out of that comparison in the side, and La Equidad have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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 Luis Orejuela is on it.
The offer from Antequera for Brian Valencia 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.
The phone has started ringing about Cristian Mejia again, and this time the name on the line is Penafiel. La Equidad are listening politely and promising nothing.
Cristian Torres 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.
7 goals in one match, Jorge Herrera on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of La Equidad and Junior.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Cristian Torres 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.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.95 beside his name.
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against America de Cali; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Luiz Rangel
$24.8M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Valladolid had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
96 minutes played. Cristian Rodriguez found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Jaguares went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
He is going to Feyenoord, the club has $24.8M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
In brief
Player ratingsFábio Rodrigues pops up at the right end — 7.95
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.
Fábio Rodrigues 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.
Marked 7.98. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. La Equidad will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Rafael Borja 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.