Marked for Danilo Ortiz
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Nov 2026
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Deportivo Pereira lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market30 Nov 2026
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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcus Vinicius was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“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.
Market30 Nov 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Deportivo Pereira know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Miguel Aguirre
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Deportivo Pereira lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market23 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Deportivo Pereira is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Deportivo Pereira training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcus Vinicius 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Giancarlo García 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
“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.
Market23 Nov 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Deportivo Pereira know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Deportivo Pereira lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market16 Nov 2026
“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 Deportivo Pereira, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Jorge Bermúdez: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Deportivo Pereira have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Eber Moreno, and the manager let it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Giancarlo García 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.
Market16 Nov 2026
Jorge Bermúdez is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Deportivo Pereira has been clear about where Jorge Bermúdez stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market9 Nov 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Deportivo Pereira can pretend not to have heard.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Marcus Vinicius 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A muscle injury and 14 days out for Federico Gómez
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Deportivo Pereira will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Giancarlo García and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Javier Mena
“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 dugout9 Nov 2026
Eber Moreno 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 Deportivo Pereira, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market19 Oct 2026
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Deportivo Pereira can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Miguel Aguirre is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcus Vinicius was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad19 Oct 2026
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.05, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Oscar Torres could afford to be generous.
Looking ahead19 Oct 2026
Deportivo Pereira take on the side everybody is chasing
Deportes Tolima 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
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
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 22 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Marcus Vinicius 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Ederson Moreno for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Deportivo Pereira will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Market12 Oct 2026
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Deportivo Pereira has been clear about where Giancarlo García stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“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 dugout12 Oct 2026
When it matters, Javier Mena plays
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.
Market12 Oct 2026
The clock does Eber Moreno’s negotiating for him
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Deportivo Pereira could ask drops and the wages Eber Moreno can ask rise.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Deportivo Pereira will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Deportivo Pereira can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Anderson Plata has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Market7 Sep 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad7 Sep 2026
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Santiago Rubio
“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.
Looking ahead7 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Jaguares in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Market7 Sep 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Deportivo Pereira know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I will play as long as the body lets me and stop the day it does not.” He is 34, with 248 appearances behind him, and the club has to plan for a decision that is not yet made.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Deportivo Pereira will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Aug 2026
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Alejandro Piedrahita wants continental football; whether Deportivo Pereira can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Deportivo Pereira's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Deportivo Pereira has to find a result from somewhere.
Match22 Aug 2026
1‑3 to Deportivo Cali, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Danilo Ortiz
“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 dugout24 Aug 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Yimy Gómez'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.
Looking ahead24 Aug 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Junior in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Market24 Aug 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Alejandro Piedrahita’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Javier Mena gets picked when it counts
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 Javier Mena is on it.