“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Envigado can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Genaro Barrionuevo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Envigado the goodbyes have quietly begun.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Marked 8.07 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“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 The request is on a desk at Envigado, and it is not being withdrawn.
Emmanuel Vélez 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.
“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.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Lautaro Cano 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 dugout4 Feb 2030
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Diego Ospina to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout4 Feb 2030
Somebody else is better right now than Luis Vásquez
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
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 Julián Palacios is on it.
Position 9 on 61 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
“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 The request is on a desk at Envigado, and it is not being withdrawn.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 13 actions, 6.95, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
8.11. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lautaro Cano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
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 Diego Ospina left the room before anybody could ask which.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Frey Berrio. 1‑0 against Leones, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A season average of 7.27 with 9 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Lautaro Cano 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.
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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Envigado has been clear about where Juan Pablo Aristizábal stands, which is more than many ever get.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Envigado can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Envigado they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Luis Vásquez.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Envigado this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Gabriel Mujica has his answer from Envigado; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Andrés Tovar
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Envigado can pretend not to have heard.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Juan Esteban Ávalo provided it, and the 8.36 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Adrián Rivas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Envigado the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Lautaro Cano is living that version at Envigado, and it tends to show in the first month.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Juan Esteban Ávalo. 3‑2 against Santa Fe, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Kevin Álvarez 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.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Envigado they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Kevin Álvarez 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.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Luis Vásquez knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout20 Aug 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Luis Vásquez'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 dugout20 Aug 2029
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 Diego Ospina left the room before anybody could ask which.
Deportivo Cali are out and America de Cali go through, 2‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match18 Jul 2029
Aaron Silva wins it after the whistle should have gone
101 minutes played. Aaron Silva found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Deportivo Cali went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Aguilas Doradas waiting with a shirt. Nobody at America de Cali is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $302.1K of what America de Cali paid for Luis Vásquez is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at America de Cali is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom23 Jul 2029
America de Cali close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 5 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. America de Cali have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Nazareno Kihm scored in the 87th minute, Atletico Nacional had already begun thinking about the journey home, and America de Cali took the lot.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mateo García will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around America de Cali the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” America de Cali have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Jean 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.
America de Cali asked and River Plate said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. America de Cali have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what America de Cali can pretend not to have heard.
America de Cali asked and O'Higgins said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at America de Cali, and 2 appearances in 25 say he has earned the hearing.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Yojan Garcés. 1‑0 against Deportivo Pasto, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 7.15, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what America de Cali can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at America de Cali is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Depor had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Successful dribbles: 26. 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 offer from Tigres for Luis Vásquez was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Jean 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.
America de Cali asked and River Plate said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what America de Cali can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at America de Cali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tigre have kept their man, and America de Cali go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Position 8, 29 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at America de Cali is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what America de Cali can pretend not to have heard.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad7 May 2029
Mateo García 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.
13 combined actions and 7.12. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
“I watch every America de Cali game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Llaneros runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at America de Cali is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Jean 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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Mateo García 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.
“I watch every America de Cali game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Llaneros runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. America de Cali lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at America de Cali is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Jean 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.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Mateo García 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at America de Cali, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether America de Cali can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
51 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. America de Cali lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mateo García will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around America de Cali the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason America de Cali will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 America de Cali, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
Up for the corner, and Iván Scarpeta delivers — 7.45
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Iván Scarpeta scored, was marked 7.45, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
1 for Mateo García, marked 7.93, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Minute 87, against Deportivo Pasto, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
87 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. America de Cali lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 77 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around America de Cali they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what America de Cali can pretend not to have heard.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Cortulua moved on, Nicolás Soto reports back to America de Cali, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo García 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.
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 Dylan Borrero is on it.
94 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. America de Cali lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. America de Cali will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The deal that would have taken Yojan Garcés to Millonarios has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to America de Cali with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Jean 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.
Add another name to the list: Millonarios have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Luis Vásquez. The answer from America de Cali has not changed — yet.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Iván Scarpeta 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 general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Nobody at America de Cali 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. America de Cali will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at America de Cali is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Cortulua waiting with a shirt. Nobody at America de Cali is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and America de Cali have had the benefit of it.
“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 America de Cali, and it is not being withdrawn.
America de Cali had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Botafogo, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
26 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Mateo García 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Tigres waiting with a shirt. Nobody at America de Cali is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The deal with Argentinos Juniors is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
James Mina 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.
$230.0K was the most the club would pay and Valledupar 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.
5 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.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” America de Cali have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Brayan Moreno signs something — a contract at America de Cali or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at America de Cali. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at America de Cali, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
“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 America de Cali, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at America de Cali, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Yerry Falcao has written the date down.
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee America de Cali could ask drops and the wages Rafael Carrascal can ask rise.
“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 America de Cali, and it is not being withdrawn.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Mauricio Labranche has just signed for America de Cali, and for once the answer mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at America de Cali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at America de Cali has been clear about where Iván Scarpeta stands, which is more than many ever get.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether America de Cali can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at America de Cali, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. America de Cali know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A brace, and James Mina takes the afternoon — 8.33
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. James Mina provided it, and the 8.33 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
James Mina 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. James Mina 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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with James Mina in the middle of it, and Once Caldas unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, David Castillo could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutDylan Borrero has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutYojan Garcés knocks on the manager's door
A brace, and Josen Escobar takes the afternoon — 8.42
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Josen Escobar provided it, and the 8.42 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Santiago Arias is living that version at America de Cali, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mateo García was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mateo García and America de Cali agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Fortaleza CEIF waiting with a shirt. Nobody at America de Cali is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
A brace, and Yojan Garcés takes the afternoon — 8.29
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Yojan Garcés provided it, and the 8.29 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.96 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” America de Cali have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Jean 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josen Escobar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
A 2‑0 win over Deportivo Cali, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josen Escobar 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at America de Cali this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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 Darwin Machís is on it.