Marked for Duvan Ramirez
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 May 2036
No end in sight to Fortaleza CEIF's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Fortaleza CEIF has to find a result from somewhere.
Market5 May 2036
“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 The request is on a desk at Fortaleza CEIF, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout5 May 2036
“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.
Squad5 May 2036
“The easiest signature of my career.” Williams Barlasina and Fortaleza CEIF agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 May 2036
David Reyes in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fortaleza CEIF this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match3 May 2036
Deportes Quindio left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout5 May 2036
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad5 May 2036
Duvan Ramirez named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Duvan Ramirez is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Squad5 May 2036
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Apr 2036
Tobías Schilman 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.
Match12 Apr 2036
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Match12 Apr 2036
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout14 Apr 2036
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 0‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Player ratings14 Apr 2036
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Boardroom14 Apr 2036
Wages swallow 89% of the Fortaleza CEIF income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout14 Apr 2036
Nobody at Fortaleza CEIF 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.
Market14 Apr 2036
“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.
Squad14 Apr 2036
Words at Fortaleza CEIF training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Richard Lopez 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
Crisis
Market17 Dec 2035
“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.
Squad17 Dec 2035
Tobías Schilman 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 targets17 Dec 2035
$36.0K was the most the club would pay and Once Caldas were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Transfer targets17 Dec 2035
Fortaleza CEIF asked and Leones 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 targets17 Dec 2035
A loan enquiry to Atletico Nacional: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets17 Dec 2035
Fortaleza CEIF have made the call to Junior. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad17 Dec 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Duvan Ramirez and Fortaleza CEIF agree another 4 years.
Market17 Dec 2035
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Jermein Peña may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Market17 Dec 2035
The name of Andrés Amaya keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Fortaleza CEIF say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom3 Dec 2035
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Fortaleza CEIF can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market3 Dec 2035
“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 Fortaleza CEIF, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 Dec 2035
David Reyes 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 targets3 Dec 2035
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market3 Dec 2035
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Pablo Garcia is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market3 Dec 2035
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Duvan Ramirez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market3 Dec 2035
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Johan Rodriguez 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.
Transfer targets3 Dec 2035
Once Caldas 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.
Transfer targets3 Dec 2035
Deportivo Pasto 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.