Marked for Alfredo Ramirez
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 Nov 2032
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Cortulua can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad29 Nov 2032
Thiago Villalba 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.
Squad29 Nov 2032
Words at Cortulua training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Arias 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.
The dugout29 Nov 2032
Jesus Santos gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jesus Santos is on it.
The dugout29 Nov 2032
“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 dugout29 Nov 2032
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Luciano Cingolani trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market29 Nov 2032
The clock does Jorge Georgieff’s negotiating for him
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Cortulua could ask drops and the wages Jorge Georgieff can ask rise.
Market29 Nov 2032
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout29 Nov 2032
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Cortulua. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Nov 2032
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cortulua will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout15 Nov 2032
“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.
Squad15 Nov 2032
Words exchanged at Cortulua
Gustavo Ospina 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.
Squad15 Nov 2032
A row about effort at Cortulua
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Arias was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 Nov 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Duván Córdoba, and the manager let it.
The dugout15 Nov 2032
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Gustavo Ospina is on it.
Squad15 Nov 2032
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Cortulua are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market15 Nov 2032
The Jesus Santos talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Cortulua know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market15 Nov 2032
2 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Cortulua money.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout26 Jan 2032
“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.
Market26 Jan 2032
Lucio Urquía has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Cortulua they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market26 Jan 2032
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Cortulua can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad26 Jan 2032
Gustavo Ospina 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.
Boardroom26 Jan 2032
13 academy players handed senior numbers at Cortulua
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad26 Jan 2032
A row about effort at Cortulua
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paulo Dybala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market26 Jan 2032
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Alejandro Borja has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market26 Jan 2032
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Oscar Barrios has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Boardroom26 Jan 2032
Cortulua board go back on their word
Something was promised, a deadline passed, and it did not arrive. Trust inside a football club is built over years and spent in an afternoon.