Marked for Alejandro Duque
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market29 Nov 2032
“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.
Squad29 Nov 2032
A row about effort at Valledupar
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Morello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout29 Nov 2032
Rogelio Esparza is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces15 Nov 2032
The mood at Valledupar has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom15 Nov 2032
Pressure builds in the Valledupar boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match15 Nov 2032
13 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market15 Nov 2032
“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.
Squad15 Nov 2032
Juan David Ramírez 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 Nov 2032
A row about effort at Valledupar
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Morello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom15 Nov 2032
Wages eat 111% of everything Valledupar earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout15 Nov 2032
The manager makes an example of Marcelo Cunha
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout15 Nov 2032
Diego Vargas knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Valledupar, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market1 Nov 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Valledupar can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Nov 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valledupar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Nov 2032
Words at Valledupar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alex Peralta 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 dugout1 Nov 2032
The manager's exit leaves Matías Morello exposed
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Matías Morello is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
The dugout1 Nov 2032
The manager has not finished forgetting Rogelio Esparza's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout1 Nov 2032
Nobody at Valledupar 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
Crisis
Squad4 Oct 2032
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Valledupar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market4 Oct 2032
“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.
Squad4 Oct 2032
Manuel Llano 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.
Boardroom4 Oct 2032
$98.9K of the owner's money at Valledupar
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad4 Oct 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valledupar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout4 Oct 2032
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Sep 2032
46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Valledupar lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad27 Sep 2032
Matías Morello and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom27 Sep 2032
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Boardroom27 Sep 2032
Valledupar are $15.1M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
The dugout27 Sep 2032
Ronaldo Lora 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.
Squad27 Sep 2032
A row about effort at Valledupar
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alex Peralta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 Sep 2032
53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Valledupar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces20 Sep 2032
The mood at Valledupar has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom20 Sep 2032
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Valledupar
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Match20 Sep 2032
Valledupar are in real trouble now
Position 11, 13 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market20 Sep 2032
“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.
Squad20 Sep 2032
The medical room confirms 36 days on the sidelines for Matías Morello, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad20 Sep 2032
Matías Morello 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.
The dugout20 Sep 2032
The manager makes an example of Jorge Martínez
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Boardroom20 Sep 2032
Wages eat 97% of everything Valledupar earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Sep 2032
Juan David Ramírez damages knee ligaments — 60 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 60 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.
Squad13 Sep 2032
A muscle injury and 16 days out for Manuel Llano
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Valledupar will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad13 Sep 2032
Matías Morello 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.
Squad13 Sep 2032
Jefferson Rodriguez 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.
Market13 Sep 2032
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Juan Hernandez has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Valledupar.
The dugout13 Sep 2032
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Valledupar. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Sep 2032
Juan David Ramírez damages knee ligaments — 67 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 67 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.
Market6 Sep 2032
“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 Valledupar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad6 Sep 2032
Juan David Ramírez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Sep 2032
Matías Morello 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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2032
The owner puts $79.5K into Valledupar
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
The dugout6 Sep 2032
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Aug 2032
Juan David Ramírez damages knee ligaments — 90 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 90 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.
Squad16 Aug 2032
A row about effort at Valledupar
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matías Morello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad16 Aug 2032
Jefferson Rodriguez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Aug 2032
No place for Julio Duarte in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Valledupar are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout16 Aug 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Diego Vargas, and the manager let it.
Market16 Aug 2032
Valledupar have made Omar Mireles available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Aug 2032
Juan David Ramírez damages knee ligaments — 98 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 98 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.
Market9 Aug 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Valledupar can pretend not to have heard.
Squad9 Aug 2032
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Felipe Riascos commits to Valledupar for another 4 years.
Squad9 Aug 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valledupar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Aug 2032
Manuel Llano 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 dugout9 Aug 2032
The manager makes an example of Ronaldo Lora
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market9 Aug 2032
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Alex Peralta has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Valledupar.
The dugout9 Aug 2032
Jorge Martínez knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jorge Martínez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout9 Aug 2032
The manager has not finished forgetting Rogelio Esparza's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Jul 2032
“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 Valledupar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2032
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Valledupar have done the hard part with Cortulua, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2032
Valledupar asked and Cortulua said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2032
A loan enquiry to Atletico Bucaramanga: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2032
Alianza Petrolera have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Squad12 Jul 2032
Diego Vargas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout12 Jul 2032
Elias Barney knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Elias Barney trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad12 Jul 2032
A row about effort at Valledupar
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jefferson Rodriguez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Jul 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 May 2032
There were 13 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
The dugout10 May 2032
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Valledupar may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad10 May 2032
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Valledupar are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad10 May 2032
Jose Hurtado 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 dugout10 May 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 Alejandro Garcia is on it.
The dugout10 May 2032
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Jorge Restrepo was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Valledupar dressing room was either.
Squad10 May 2032
Words at Valledupar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jefferson Rodriguez 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 dugout10 May 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicolás Osorio, and the manager let it.
Match8 May 2032
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Deportes Quindio came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Apr 2032
Matías Morello 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.
Squad26 Apr 2032
Words at Valledupar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Manuel Llano 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.
Match24 Apr 2032
Deportivo Pereira left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad26 Apr 2032
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 dugout26 Apr 2032
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Looking ahead26 Apr 2032
Valledupar take on the side everybody is chasing
Fortaleza CEIF arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
The dugout26 Apr 2032
The manager makes an example of Carlos Santos
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout26 Apr 2032
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The dugout26 Apr 2032
Nobody at Valledupar 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
Steady
Match17 Apr 2032
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 89th, and Bogota spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Squad19 Apr 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valledupar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces19 Apr 2032
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 16-year-old it feels ownership of. Carlos Santos 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.
Match17 Apr 2032
Bogota made Valledupar work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings19 Apr 2032
7.62, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Valledupar had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Player ratings19 Apr 2032
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout19 Apr 2032
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Jorge Restrepo could afford to be generous.
Boardroom19 Apr 2032
Nobody arrives at Valledupar until somebody leaves
The club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Valledupar this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
Squad19 Apr 2032
Words at Valledupar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jefferson Rodriguez 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 Dec 2031
“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 Valledupar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad29 Dec 2031
A row about effort at Valledupar
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Manuel Llano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets29 Dec 2031
Valledupar asked and Alianza Petrolera said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad29 Dec 2031
Bautista Fernández 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.
Transfer targets29 Dec 2031
A loan move for Matías Morello is in the works
Valledupar have made the call to America de Cali. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets29 Dec 2031
La Equidad have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Market29 Dec 2031
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Alex Peralta has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Valledupar.
Boardroom29 Dec 2031
The manager has a list and the board has a condition attached to it. That is not a crisis — half of football works this way — but it decides which of the two of them gets his way in August.
Squad29 Dec 2031
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Valledupar are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom22 Dec 2031
Pressure builds in the Valledupar boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market22 Dec 2031
Jose Hurtado 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 Valledupar can pretend not to have heard.
Squad22 Dec 2031
Juan David Ramírez 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.
Transfer targets22 Dec 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Junior have kept their man, and Valledupar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets22 Dec 2031
A loan enquiry to Alianza Petrolera: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets22 Dec 2031
A loan enquiry to America de Cali: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Market22 Dec 2031
1 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Valledupar could get for him.
Squad22 Dec 2031
Elias Barney has outgrown this division
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Valledupar know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Squad22 Dec 2031
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Valledupar have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Nov 2031
Luis Marquínez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Nov 2031
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 38 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad10 Nov 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Luis Rodriguez commits to Valledupar for another 3 years.
The dugout10 Nov 2031
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 dugout10 Nov 2031
The manager makes an example of Hector Palacios
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market10 Nov 2031
6 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Valledupar could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Nov 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Rafael Sanchez
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Valledupar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom3 Nov 2031
Jorge Restrepo has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Valledupar can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Squad3 Nov 2031
81 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad3 Nov 2031
Juan David Ramírez 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.
The dugout3 Nov 2031
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Miguel Ángel Arboleda is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
Boardroom3 Nov 2031
Nobody arrives at Valledupar until somebody leaves
The club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Valledupar this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
Squad3 Nov 2031
Jefferson Rodriguez 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.
Market3 Nov 2031
2 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Valledupar could get for him.
Market3 Nov 2031
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Bautista Fernández may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces22 Sep 2031
The mood at Valledupar has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match22 Sep 2031
16 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad22 Sep 2031
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 15 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad22 Sep 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valledupar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Sep 2031
A row about effort at Valledupar
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jefferson Rodriguez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 Sep 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alejandro Duque, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Sep 2031
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Valledupar will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market8 Sep 2031
“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.
Squad8 Sep 2031
Jose Hurtado and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom8 Sep 2031
The manager has a list and the board has a condition attached to it. That is not a crisis — half of football works this way — but it decides which of the two of them gets his way in August.
The dugout8 Sep 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jose Hurtado, and the manager let it.
Market8 Sep 2031
The clock does Néider Barona’s negotiating for him
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Valledupar could ask drops and the wages Néider Barona can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Mar 2031
The wait goes on for Valledupar
9 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.
Boardroom3 Mar 2031
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Match1 Mar 2031
1‑3 to Depor, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Match1 Mar 2031
Valledupar are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad3 Mar 2031
Juan Esteban Manquillo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout3 Mar 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sebastián Hurtado, and the manager let it.
The dugout3 Mar 2031
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Jorge Restrepo left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad3 Mar 2031
Too much change too quickly at Valledupar
6 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.
Squad3 Mar 2031
A place in the month's best eleven for Alejandro Duque
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Alejandro Duque has come out of that comparison in the side, and Valledupar have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.