Marked for Oscar Ramirez
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 46. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for James Uribe
145 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Cortulua lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match6 Sep 2027
Every point is an argument now for Cortulua
Position 18 and 32 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad6 Sep 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 Cortulua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch6 Sep 2027
“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 Cortulua, and 0 appearances in 35 say he has earned the hearing.
Match4 Sep 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Aug 2027
Joaquín Molina 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Cortulua training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Richard Moreno 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.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.03, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Loan watch9 Aug 2027
“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 Cortulua, and 0 appearances in 31 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 33. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The terraces12 Jul 2027
Supporters turn on the $4.6M sale of Hector Valencia
He is going to Independiente, the club has $4.6M 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.
Squad12 Jul 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 Cortulua this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch12 Jul 2027
“I watch every Cortulua game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at La Equidad runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Match10 Jul 2027
Atletico Bucaramanga left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Javier Mejia 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Óscar Cabezas, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Javier Mejia dropped after a run of poor form
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings14 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 38. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match12 Jun 2027
8 matches without a win for Cortulua
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Cortulua are no longer polite ones.
Market14 Jun 2027
Cortulua say no — this time
The offer from Once Caldas for Hector 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
Jesus Santos 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 Cortulua can pretend not to have heard.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Joaquín Molina 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Hector Valencia 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.
Match12 Jun 2027
Aguilas Doradas left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad14 Jun 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.
Loan watch14 Jun 2027
“I did not go to La Equidad to sit and watch. I want to come back to Cortulua and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 23 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 May 2027
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Cortulua heard it as anything else.
Match15 May 2027
No end in sight to Cortulua's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Cortulua has to find a result from somewhere.
Match15 May 2027
Cortulua cannot find the net
4 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.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 May 2027
Hector Valencia 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.
Squad17 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.
Loan watch17 May 2027
“I watch every Cortulua game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at La Equidad runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad17 May 2027
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.
Squad17 May 2027
A booking nobody needed, on a night the game was already won. Cortulua lose a player for the most avoidable reason there is.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 Apr 2027
There were 88 minutes on the clock and Millonarios had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Cortulua did not stop to explain themselves.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market19 Apr 2027
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Nicolas Montero wants continental football; whether Cortulua can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Nicolas Montero 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Richard Moreno 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.
The terraces19 Apr 2027
At 18 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Óscar Cabezas, and the manager let it.
Match17 Apr 2027
It finished 1‑0, and it was Santiago Zapata’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Cortulua.
Loan watch19 Apr 2027
“I watch every Cortulua game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at La Equidad runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Cortulua training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hector Valencia 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Tomás Velásquez 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Óscar Cabezas, and the manager let it.
Loan watch22 Mar 2027
“I watch every Cortulua game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at La Equidad runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Duvan Valencia dropped after a run of poor form
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.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match20 Feb 2027
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Deportes Quindio, and it could have been more.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 33. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.48 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Nicolas Montero 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Richard Moreno 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.
Market22 Feb 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Cortulua will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Loan watch22 Feb 2027
“I did not go to La Equidad to sit and watch. I want to come back to Cortulua and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 7 matches say the rest.
Squad22 Feb 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Duvan Valencia dropped after a run of poor form
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alex Moreno Paz 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Questions about Oscar Ramirez on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
Squad18 Jan 2027
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Jhonathan Caicedo’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Pedrozo 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.