Marked for Brian Cardona
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market5 Mar 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at La Equidad is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match3 Mar 2029
Nobody wants to play La Equidad right now
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.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Duvan Quintero and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match3 Mar 2029
It finished 3‑1, and it was Nicolas Rios’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to La Equidad.
Match3 Mar 2029
La Equidad settle it inside twenty minutes
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Envigado spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
Ninety minutes of Nicolas Rios at his very best
Marked 8.45. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at La Equidad.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
A performance of 8.28 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
A performance of 8.21 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Market5 Mar 2029
Brian Cardona is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at La Equidad has been clear about where Brian Cardona stands, which is more than many ever get.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Feb 2029
21 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.
Match10 Feb 2029
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 85th, and Cortulua spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
Lucas Ríos beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad12 Feb 2029
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.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Juan Iribarren gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Juan Iribarren has just signed for La Equidad, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for La Equidad is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Match10 Feb 2029
A 2‑1 win over Cortulua, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
A performance of 8.62 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
Jesús Rivas gets it from the manager
“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
Uneasy
Squad4 Dec 2028
Wilmar Restrepo damages knee ligaments — 18 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
Boardroom4 Dec 2028
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Camilo Gonzalez has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market4 Dec 2028
Millonarios 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.
Market4 Dec 2028
“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.
Transfer targets4 Dec 2028
The clubs have shaken hands with Leones; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Transfer targets4 Dec 2028
The offer went to Real Cartagena 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.
Market4 Dec 2028
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.
Squad4 Dec 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Fabián Ángel and La Equidad agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets4 Dec 2028
La Equidad offered $350.0K; Barranquilla 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market4 Sep 2028
$26.1M 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.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at La Equidad
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The terraces4 Sep 2028
Supporters turn on the $26.1M sale of Miguel Cuadrado
He is going to Anderlecht, the club has $26.1M 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.
Market4 Sep 2028
“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 dugout4 Sep 2028
Eric González: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” La Equidad have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad4 Sep 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Sergio Muriel commits to La Equidad for another 2 years.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Duvan Quintero 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Aug 2028
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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Duvan Quintero and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match26 Aug 2028
Jaguares made La Equidad work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jesús Rivas, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Aug 2028
No place for Aldo Maiz in the new shape
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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
La Equidad are still strangers to each other
12 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.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Marked 7.63. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
Miguel Cuadrado has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at La Equidad 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market21 Aug 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at La Equidad is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad21 Aug 2028
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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Squad21 Aug 2028
A row about effort at La Equidad
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aldo Maiz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 34 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for La Equidad is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
The dugout21 Aug 2028
“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.
The dugout21 Aug 2028
Nicolas Rios has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at La Equidad 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.
The dugout21 Aug 2028
A promise honoured at La Equidad
Something was said to Brian Cardona and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Jul 2028
36 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.
Market3 Jul 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market3 Jul 2028
Federico Redondo wants to know where this is going
“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.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Duvan Quintero and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Jul 2028
A row about effort at La Equidad
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pablo Restrepo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match1 Jul 2028
3 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.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
La Equidad asked and Atletico Nacional 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 dugout3 Jul 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fabián Ángel, and the manager let it.
Market3 Jul 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Brian Cardona has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at La Equidad.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match1 Apr 2028
The 4-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Miguel Cuadrado was at the centre of it, Deportivo Cali were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
Market3 Apr 2028
“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.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.46, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” La Equidad may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market3 Apr 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around La Equidad they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad3 Apr 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Brian Cardona and La Equidad agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The terraces3 Apr 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Miguel Cuadrado has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.45, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market6 Dec 2027
The name of Sebastian Restrepo has come up in conversations La Equidad were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market6 Dec 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Transfer targets6 Dec 2027
A loan move for Yojan Garcés is in the works
La Equidad have made the call to Bragantino. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
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 dugout6 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sebastián Cuernú, and the manager let it.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Sergio Murillo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Market6 Dec 2027
Juan Muriel is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at La Equidad has been clear about where Juan Muriel stands, which is more than many ever get.
Market6 Dec 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Miguel Cuadrado signs something — a contract at La Equidad or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Jun 2027
65 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market21 Jun 2027
“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.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Envigado wanted more than $46.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad21 Jun 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 La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
La Equidad asked and Huracán said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match19 Jun 2027
A 1‑0 win over Jaguares, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad21 Jun 2027
A row about effort at La Equidad
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pablo Restrepo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings21 Jun 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.37, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 May 2027
116 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.
Match3 May 2027
The view from the top for La Equidad
29 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Match1 May 2027
Nobody wants to play La Equidad right now
4 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.
Squad3 May 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Brian Cardona and La Equidad agree another 2 years.
Squad3 May 2027
Duvan Quintero 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.
Match1 May 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Duvan Quintero. 2‑1 against Atletico Bucaramanga, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Duvan Quintero was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.01. 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.
Squad3 May 2027
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
The dugout3 May 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.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
A promise honoured at La Equidad
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The dugout
Somebody else is better right now than Alexandro Licona