The Universitario Popayan Gazette
Player ratings17 May 2027
Matías Lozano was unplayable
Successful dribbles: 30. 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.
Market17 May 2027
Victor Bacca 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 May 2027
Matías Lozano is the real thing at 18
A season average of 7.00 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Universitario Popayan know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad17 May 2027
Tempers go at Universitario Popayan
Mateo 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Julian Garcia 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 ratings17 May 2027
The afternoon belonged to Daniel Cardona
A mark of 7.40, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout17 May 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Luis Sinisterra
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout17 May 2027
Sergio Herrera: “We have to be better”
“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.
Match15 May 2027
Universitario Popayan and Fortaleza CEIF cancel each other out
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Fortaleza CEIF came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
In brief
- The dugout No hiding place for Andres Falcao
- The dugout When it matters, Oscar Falcao plays
- Market The Oscar Cuadrado question follows Universitario Popayan around