37 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Jefferson Vargas 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Duvan Sanchez 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.
Marked 8.63 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 35 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Alianza Petrolera has to find a result from somewhere.
“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 The request is on a desk at Alianza Petrolera, and it is not being withdrawn.
Jefferson Vargas 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Duvan Sanchez 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.
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.
“I did not go to Real Cartagena to sit and watch. I want to come back to Alianza Petrolera and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alianza Petrolera can pretend not to have heard.
Jefferson Vargas 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Duvan Sanchez 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Alianza Petrolera, and 0 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alianza Petrolera this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Duvan Sanchez 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.
7 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.
A season-long look at somebody else’s player: Íker Blanco arrives from Independiente Medellin with something to prove and a return ticket in the drawer. Good loans make everybody richer; this one starts Saturday.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alianza Petrolera this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jose Hernandez 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 25 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Jefferson Vargas 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 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Duvan Sanchez 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.
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 9 of the 24 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Ivan Hurtado, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.15
A mark of 8.15 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alianza Petrolera this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There was no pressure on him and nowhere he had to be. Alianza Petrolera lost a goal to a decision that took half a second and will be discussed all week.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Agustín Quiroga has come out of that comparison in the side, and Alianza Petrolera have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of 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 Alianza Petrolera this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Duvan Sanchez 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Felipe Sanchez and Alianza Petrolera agree another 3 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alianza Petrolera this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Brian Zapata 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
6 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.
Jefferson Vargas 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Duvan Sanchez 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.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Alianza Petrolera has to find a result from somewhere.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alianza Petrolera this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alejandro Torres and Alianza Petrolera agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
6 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jefferson Vargas and Alianza Petrolera agree another 4 years.
Jefferson Vargas 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 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 Aug 2026
Duvan Sanchez 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 name of Mateo Romero has come up in conversations Alianza Petrolera were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.