Marked for Daniel Quintero
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad25 Sep 2028
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
The dugout25 Sep 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.
Market25 Sep 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Santa Fe is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad25 Sep 2028
A falling-out at Santa Fe
Andrés Arroyo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match23 Sep 2028
A 3‑2 win over Cortulua, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Match23 Sep 2028
The run at home goes on for Santa Fe
9 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad25 Sep 2028
33 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The terraces25 Sep 2028
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
The game went through Mauro Carrizo — 7.58
Marked 7.58 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
In brief
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Player ratings
Ninety minutes of Jhoel Arenas at his very best
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The dugout
No hiding place for Jhojan Torres
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Sep 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 Santa Fe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Sep 2028
At 17 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to John Córdoba, and the manager let it.
Market18 Sep 2028
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Santa Fe can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad18 Sep 2028
The ambition story running the other way, and the one nobody tells: a footballer asking for a smaller stage, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is very rarely reported as anything else.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Carlos Romero was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Santa Fe dressing room was either.
Squad18 Sep 2028
The formation has left Mauro Carrizo behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Santa Fe will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout10 Apr 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Santa Fe may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market10 Apr 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 Santa Fe, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Up for the corner, and Yílmar Velásquez delivers — 7.64
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Yílmar Velásquez scored, was marked 7.64, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words exchanged at Santa Fe
Valente Pierani 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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Daniel Quintero is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 16 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad10 Apr 2028
500 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The terraces10 Apr 2028
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Jan 2028
The knee: Jáder Obrian out for 88 days
88 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Santa Fe lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market31 Jan 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 Santa Fe, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words exchanged at Santa Fe
Andrés Arroyo 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.
Match29 Jan 2028
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Santa Fe and Real Cartagena, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
A performance of 8.32 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
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.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Santiago Tamayo, and the manager let it.
Boardroom31 Jan 2028
Nobody left the Santa Fe dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 Jan 2028
The knee: Jáder Obrian out for 98 days
98 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Santa Fe lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market24 Jan 2028
Levski come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Santa Fe did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market24 Jan 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 Santa Fe, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Santa Fe may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match22 Jan 2028
The run at home goes on for Santa Fe
11 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Market24 Jan 2028
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Sebastián Navarro wants continental football; whether Santa Fe can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Andrés Arroyo 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.
Boardroom24 Jan 2028
Graduation day at Santa Fe
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Market24 Jan 2028
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Daniel Quintero is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.