Marked for James Martinez
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Jun 2028
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Patriotas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market26 Jun 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 The request is on a desk at Patriotas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match26 Jun 2028
Patriotas finish in position 11
20 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Player ratings26 Jun 2028
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match24 Jun 2028
7 matches without a win for Patriotas
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Patriotas are no longer polite ones.
Match24 Jun 2028
7 matches without a goal for Patriotas
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 7 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
$610.0K settles it between the clubs for Cristiano Gutiérrez
Junior have accepted the money. What Patriotas do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Patriotas 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.
Squad26 Jun 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 Patriotas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Jun 2028
James Martinez damages knee ligaments — 26 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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.
Match17 Jun 2028
6 matches without a win for Patriotas
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Patriotas are no longer polite ones.
Match17 Jun 2028
6 matches without a goal for Patriotas
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Market19 Jun 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Patriotas can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Patriotas may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
Patriotas 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Sebastián Moreno 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.
Player ratings19 Jun 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad19 Jun 2028
A row about effort at Patriotas
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iván Camacho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Jun 2028
James Martinez damages knee ligaments — 34 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 34 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.
Player ratings12 Jun 2028
Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market12 Jun 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.
Match10 Jun 2028
5 matches without a win for Patriotas
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Patriotas are no longer polite ones.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match10 Jun 2028
5 matches without a goal for Patriotas
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.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
Everything agreed with America de Cali, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Independiente Medellin have kept their man, and Patriotas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words exchanged at Patriotas
Sebastián Moreno 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.