Marked for Tomás Maya
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Jan 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Miguel Sanchez
89 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. La Equidad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market8 Jan 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and America de Cali waiting with a shirt. Nobody at La Equidad is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market8 Jan 2029
“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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Jan 2029
A row about effort at La Equidad
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ivan Bacca was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad8 Jan 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Thiago Perugini and La Equidad agree another 4 years.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
“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 dugout8 Jan 2029
Gustavo Restrepo has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at La Equidad 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.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Leonardo Falcao trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market3 Jul 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. La Equidad have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings3 Jul 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.81, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad3 Jul 2028
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.
Market3 Jul 2028
“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.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Defences have started doubling up on Leonardo Falcao
19 goals and a season average of 7.23 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad3 Jul 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ivan Bacca commits to La Equidad for another 3 years.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Pablo Hernandez 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 terraces3 Jul 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market6 Dec 2027
Wilmar Muriel 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 La Equidad can pretend not to have heard.
Market6 Dec 2027
The offer from Ceará for Leonardo Palacios 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.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” La Equidad may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market6 Dec 2027
Bryam Rebellón has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around La Equidad they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Pablo Hernandez 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Bacca 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 dugout6 Dec 2027
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 dugout6 Dec 2027
The manager makes an example of Jeifer Nontoa
“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.
Market6 Dec 2027
Bryam Rebellón is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at La Equidad has been clear about where Bryam Rebellón stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Nov 2027
Freddy Arias is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.45 with 24 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market29 Nov 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around La Equidad they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Pablo Hernandez 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 2027
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustavo Restrepo 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 terraces29 Nov 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Leonardo Palacios 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.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
Marked 7.99 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, La Equidad had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Alejandro Martinez will call it something else in private.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 52. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match11 Sep 2027
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 27 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Market13 Sep 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at La Equidad is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom13 Sep 2027
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Bryam Rebellón has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Pablo Hernandez 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Bacca 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 dugout13 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alejandro Martinez, and the manager let it.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match24 Apr 2027
7‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad26 Apr 2027
4 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Match26 Apr 2027
La Equidad are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 25 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Marked 8.34 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market26 Apr 2027
“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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
A season average of 7.33 with 16 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match24 Apr 2027
Nobody wants to play La Equidad right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Pablo Hernandez 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.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Leonardo Falcao was on a different afternoon to everybody else
10.00. 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match12 Mar 2027
A European night to forget for La Equidad
0‑3. Fluminense play this football every year and it showed in every part of the pitch. The lesson is expensive and, for a club at this stage, probably necessary.
Market15 Mar 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what La Equidad can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Pablo Hernandez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Mar 2027
A row about effort at La Equidad
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Restrepo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match13 Mar 2027
La Equidad rescue it on 95 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 95. Millonarios had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Boardroom15 Mar 2027
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad15 Mar 2027
He has had enough of the noise. Whether La Equidad can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.