Aguilas Doradas

Colombian Liga BetPlay
28 Aug 2027
Saturday
Process
56 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

23 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Jorge Soto stands alone

12 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Market

Mateo Albornoz 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 Aguilas Doradas can pretend not to have heard.

Match

Aguilas Doradas end the wait against La Equidad

It had gone 8 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.

Market

Only the photograph left for Ezequiel Palomeque

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ezequiel Palomeque will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Aguilas Doradas the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

A row about effort at Aguilas Doradas

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Hernández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Mateo Albornoz 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 Aguilas Doradas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The terraces

One of their own: Róyner Benítez

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.

Match

Aguilas Doradas see off La Equidad

Three points for Aguilas Doradas, 1‑0 the final word against La Equidad in a contest settled by the finer margins.

The dugout

A promise honoured at Aguilas Doradas

Something was said to Hugo Palacios and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.

In brief

Back issues
55 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

16 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Nowhere to hide for Aguilas Doradas

0‑6 against Jaguares, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.

Match

No end in sight to Aguilas Doradas's wait for a win

8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Aguilas Doradas has to find a result from somewhere.

Market

Róyner Benítez puts it in writing

“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 Aguilas Doradas, and it is not being withdrawn.

Match

5 matches without a goal for Aguilas Doradas

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

Market

Luis Becerra has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Aguilas Doradas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Match

Nobody could stop scoring

6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Aguilas Doradas and Jaguares in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.

Squad

Words at Aguilas Doradas training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Hernández 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Aguilas Doradas

Mateo Albornoz 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.

Market

Juan Esteban Ávalo wants European nights

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.

In brief

54 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

9 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to Aguilas Doradas's wait for a win

7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Aguilas Doradas has to find a result from somewhere.

Market

Hugo Palacios wants European nights

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.

Squad

Hugo Palacios signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Hugo Palacios and Aguilas Doradas agree another 3 years.

Squad

Jorge Soto 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 Aguilas Doradas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

4 matches without a goal for Aguilas Doradas

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

Squad

A row about effort at Aguilas Doradas

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Hernández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

A bad afternoon for Aguilas Doradas against Junior

0‑2 to Junior, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Player ratings

John Meléndez was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 19. 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 dugout

Juan José Castaño gets it from the manager

“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.

In brief

53 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

2 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The wait goes on for Aguilas Doradas

6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Squad

Jorge Soto stands alone

6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Squad

Tempers go at Aguilas Doradas

Jorge Soto 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.

Squad

Diego Hernández 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.

Match

The goals have deserted Aguilas Doradas

3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Aguilas Doradas can tell you which week it ends in.

Transfer targets

Aguilas Doradas rebuffed over Juan Pablo Torres

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atletico Nacional have kept their man, and Aguilas Doradas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Match

Deportivo Cali take the points off Aguilas Doradas

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Juan Camilo Roa

“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 dugout

Oscar Valencia: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

In brief

52 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

26 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Chastening afternoon for Aguilas Doradas

A 0‑3 beating by Independiente Medellin was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Match

No end in sight to Aguilas Doradas's wait for a win

5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Aguilas Doradas has to find a result from somewhere.

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 3 signed and 0 gone

That is the business done at Aguilas Doradas until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.

Market

Róyner Benítez attracts admirers

The name of Róyner Benítez has come up in conversations Aguilas Doradas were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Boardroom

Aguilas Doradas to lose Ezequiel Palomeque for free

There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Ezequiel Palomeque 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.

Market

Ezequiel Palomeque is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Aguilas Doradas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aguilas Doradas

Jorge Soto 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 targets

Too dear: Aguilas Doradas walk away from Tilman Palacios

$190.0K was the most the club would pay and America de Cali 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.

Squad

Words at Aguilas Doradas training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Hernández 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.

In brief

51 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

19 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Jorge Soto keeps Aguilas Doradas in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Match

A hiding for Aguilas Doradas

Beaten 0‑6 by Atletico Nacional, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.

Market

Róyner Benítez asks to leave Aguilas Doradas

“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.

The dugout

Brayan Blandón keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Aguilas Doradas may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Market

Only the photograph left for Luis Becerra

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luis Becerra will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Aguilas Doradas the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Transfer targets

Eduardo Esterilla due for a Aguilas Doradas medical

Everything agreed with Deportes Quindio, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Match

No end in sight to Aguilas Doradas's wait for a win

4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Aguilas Doradas has to find a result from somewhere.

Market

Aguilas Doradas get their man

The chase for Hugo Palacios ended with $480.0K changing hands and Deportes Quindio out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.

Squad

A falling-out at Aguilas Doradas

Jorge Soto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

In brief

50 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

12 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

A brace, and Róyner Benítez takes the afternoon — 8.67

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Róyner Benítez provided it, and the 8.67 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Transfer targets

Failed medical for Juan Sebastián Ramírez

The deal with Deportivo Cali died in the treatment room. Nobody will say what was found and everybody in the game will find out by Friday.

Transfer targets

Hugo Palacios is a medical away from Aguilas Doradas

The deal with Deportes Quindio 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.

Squad

Diego Hernández 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.

Boardroom

Aguilas Doradas agree a free transfer for Alejandro Chalarca

Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.

Squad

Tempers go at Aguilas Doradas

Hernán Lópes 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 terraces

One of their own: Róyner Benítez

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.

Squad

200 appearances for Jorge Soto

200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.

Match

Late, late show earns Aguilas Doradas a point

Minute 89, against Envigado, 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.

In brief

49 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

5 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Sebastián Macías asks to leave Aguilas Doradas

“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.

Market

Juan Camilo Roa has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Aguilas Doradas can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Squad

Iván Rojas 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Aguilas Doradas

Mateo Albornoz and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

Jorge Soto gets it from the manager

“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.

Match

Aguilas Doradas come up short against Real Cartagena

Real Cartagena left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

Oscar Valencia: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

Player ratings

John Meléndez was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 15. 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.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Juan Sebastián Ramírez is in the works

Aguilas Doradas have made the call to Deportivo Cali. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

In brief

48 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

28 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Hernán Lópes asks to leave Aguilas Doradas

“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.

Market

Gostaresh Foulad come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Aguilas Doradas did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Player ratings

Serpeta beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Market

Iván Rojas wants European nights

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aguilas Doradas

Ricardo Márquez 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.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Jorge Rivaldo

14 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.

Squad

Róyner Benítez stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Róyner Benítez and Aguilas Doradas agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Diego Hernández 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Juan Camilo Roa

“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.

In brief

47 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

21 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Serpeta runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 36. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Player ratings

Both of them Matías Ramírez's — 8.47

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.47, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Match

At last: Aguilas Doradas win one

11 matches without a win, and then this, against Patriotas. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.

The dugout

Andrés Mosquera: 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.” Aguilas Doradas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Luis Becerra has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Aguilas Doradas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

A falling-out at Aguilas Doradas

Jorge Soto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Aguilas Doradas

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Hernández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Aguilas Doradas get the job done against Patriotas

A 3‑1 win over Patriotas, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Squad

Jorge Rivaldo is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.21 with 13 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

In brief

46 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

14 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

11 matches without a win for Aguilas Doradas

The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Aguilas Doradas are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Jorge Soto stands alone

7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Market

Juan Flórez 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 Aguilas Doradas can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Gostaresh Foulad watching Róyner Benítez

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Aguilas Doradas have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Squad

Jorge Soto 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 Aguilas Doradas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Aguilas Doradas training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Rojas 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.

Transfer targets

Aguilas Doradas rebuffed over Oswaldo Virgen

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Toluca have kept their man, and Aguilas Doradas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Match

Aguilas Doradas come up short against Cortulua

Cortulua left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Serpeta

Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

In brief

45 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

7 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

10 matches without a win for Aguilas Doradas

The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Aguilas Doradas are no longer polite ones.

Market

Andrés Álvarez asks to leave Aguilas Doradas

“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.

Squad

Tempers go at Aguilas Doradas

Jorge Soto 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.

Squad

Words at Aguilas Doradas training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Rojas 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.

Player ratings

Serpeta runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Harold Preciado

Aguilas Doradas asked and Inter said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Market

Juan Esteban Ávalo has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Aguilas Doradas can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Player ratings

One of those days for Jorge Rivaldo

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.04, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Hernán Lópes

“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.

In brief

44 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

31 May 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Jorge Rivaldo was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 35. 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.

Match

9 matches without a win for Aguilas Doradas

The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Aguilas Doradas are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aguilas Doradas

Jorge Soto 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.

Match

Jorge Rivaldo among the goals in a wild afternoon

6 goals in one match, Jorge Rivaldo on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Aguilas Doradas and Once Caldas.

Match

Once Caldas take the points off Aguilas Doradas

Beaten 2‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Iván Rojas 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.

Player ratings

Matías Ramírez in the eights

A performance of 8.18 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Squad

Aguilas Doradas lose Luis Cuesta

47 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Juan Camilo Roa

“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.

In brief

43 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

24 May 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

8 matches without a win for Aguilas Doradas

The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Aguilas Doradas are no longer polite ones.

Squad

6 saves: Jorge Soto was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Player ratings

Jorge Rivaldo was unplayable

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.

Market

Luis Becerra is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Aguilas Doradas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Boardroom

Luis Becerra has agreed to leave Aguilas Doradas for nothing

He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.

Squad

A falling-out at Aguilas Doradas

Jorge Soto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Aguilas Doradas

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iván Rojas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

No hiding place for Iván Rojas

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Iván Rojas, and the manager let it.

Match

Aguilas Doradas come up short against Santa Fe

Santa Fe left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

In brief

42 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

17 May 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

Millonarios punish Aguilas Doradas for switching off

2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Ricardo Márquez will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Aguilas Doradas escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.

Match

The wait goes on for Aguilas Doradas

7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Squad

Ricardo Márquez 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 Aguilas Doradas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Róyner Benítez wants European nights

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.

Squad

Iván Rojas 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 terraces

Aguilas Doradas supporters have found a favourite in Jorge Rivaldo

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Jorge Rivaldo 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 ratings

Jorge Rivaldo in the eights

A performance of 8.57 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Player ratings

Ricardo Márquez was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.18. 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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Mateo Albornoz

“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.

In brief

41 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

10 May 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Aguilas Doradas bow out of the cup

Atletico Nacional go through and Aguilas Doradas go home, 0‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.

The terraces

A cup hiding at Atletico Nacional leaves Aguilas Doradas explaining themselves

0-3, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.

Match

No end in sight to Aguilas Doradas's wait for a win

6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Aguilas Doradas has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

Tempers go at Aguilas Doradas

Ricardo Márquez 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.

Match

4 matches without a goal for Aguilas Doradas

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

Player ratings

Jorge Rivaldo beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

A row about effort at Aguilas Doradas

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iván Rojas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Aguilas Doradas come up short against Deportes Tolima

Deportes Tolima left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

No hiding place for Hernán Lópes

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hernán Lópes, and the manager let it.

In brief

  • Boardroom Nobody left the Aguilas Doradas dressing room in a hurry
  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • Squad Bookings catch up with Iván Rojas
40 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

3 May 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The wait goes on for Aguilas Doradas

4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aguilas Doradas

Jorge Soto 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.

Market

Aguilas Doradas may not be able to give Juan Camilo Roa what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Juan Camilo Roa wants continental football; whether Aguilas Doradas can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad

Iván Rojas 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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Aguilas Doradas against Deportivo Pasto

0‑1 to Deportivo Pasto, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

Aguilas Doradas count the cost of losing Luis Cuesta

78 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Player ratings

Matías Ramírez beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

The dugout

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 Oscar Valencia to a room that had heard them before.

Squad

A step back for Andrés Mosquera at Aguilas Doradas

Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.

In brief

39 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

26 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

The dugout

Carlos Londoño keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Aguilas Doradas may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Market

Iván Rojas wants European nights

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.

Squad

A falling-out at Aguilas Doradas

Jorge Soto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Iván Rojas 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.

Match

Atletico Bucaramanga take the points off Aguilas Doradas

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Juan Camilo Roa

“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 dugout

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 Oscar Valencia to a room that had heard them before.

The dugout

When it matters, Jorge Soto 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.

Looking ahead

Jorge Soto faces his old club

Deportivo Pasto next, and one man in the Aguilas Doradas dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.

In brief

38 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

19 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Serpeta was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 24. 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Aguilas Doradas

Jorge Soto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Iván Rojas 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.

Match

Deportivo Pereira take the points off Aguilas Doradas

Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

Andrés Mosquera gets it from the manager

“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 dugout

Oscar Valencia faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Oscar Valencia after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

The dugout

Aguilas Doradas keep their word to Róyner Benítez

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.

The dugout

Juan Camilo Roa 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 Aguilas Doradas, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Looking ahead

Ricardo Márquez faces his old club

Atletico Bucaramanga next, and one man in the Aguilas Doradas dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.

In brief

37 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

12 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Serpeta

Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aguilas Doradas

Jorge Soto 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.

Squad

Words at Aguilas Doradas training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Rojas 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 terraces

Aguilas Doradas supporters have found a favourite in Javier Mena

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Javier Mena 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.

The dugout

Hernán Lópes gets it from the manager

“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.

Squad

Luis Cuesta signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Luis Cuesta and Aguilas Doradas agree another 1 years.

Player ratings

Javier Mena was the difference for Aguilas Doradas

Marked 7.75. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.

The dugout

Oscar Valencia on the point

“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Oscar Valencia after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.

Match

Point won or two lost for Aguilas Doradas?

Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against La Equidad? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.

In brief

36 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

5 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Jorge Rivaldo scores twice — 9.08

Two goals and a mark of 9.08 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Squad

Tempers go at Aguilas Doradas

Jorge Soto 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.

Match

Aguilas Doradas find a way past Jaguares

Jaguares made Aguilas Doradas work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Squad

Iván Rojas 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 terraces

Aguilas Doradas supporters have found a favourite in Keiner Arias

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 17-year-old it feels ownership of. Keiner Arias 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 ratings

Nobody could get near Serpeta

Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market

Juan Esteban Ávalo wants European nights

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.

Player ratings

Sebastián Macías in the eights

A performance of 8.44 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

The dugout

Mateo Albornoz gets it from the manager

“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.

In brief

35 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

29 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Serpeta beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 27. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Ricardo Márquez 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 Aguilas Doradas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Aguilas Doradas training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Rojas 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.

Match

Aguilas Doradas find a way past Junior

Junior made Aguilas Doradas work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.

The terraces

One of their own: Jorge Rivaldo

He is 23 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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Matías Ramírez

“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 dugout

Matías Ramírez is still paying for one afternoon at Aguilas Doradas

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.

Player ratings

A costly moment from Matías Ramírez

One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at Aguilas Doradas, and it is a cruel one.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Oscar Valencia kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.

In brief

34 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

22 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Tempers go at Aguilas Doradas

Frank Lozano 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Aguilas Doradas

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iván Rojas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Deportivo Cali take the points off Aguilas Doradas

Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

Oscar Valencia faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Oscar Valencia after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

The dugout

Juan Esteban Ávalo gets it from the manager

“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.

Market

Luis Becerra is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Aguilas Doradas has been clear about where Luis Becerra stands, which is more than many ever get.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Serpeta

Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Looking ahead

Juan Camilo Roa goes back to face Junior

Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Juan Camilo Roa’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Aguilas Doradas needing him to play as if none of it matters.

Market

The Diego Hernández question follows Aguilas Doradas around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Diego Hernández’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

33 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

15 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Matías Ramírez beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 29. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aguilas Doradas

Jorge Soto 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Aguilas Doradas

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Hernández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

The drought breaks for Aguilas Doradas

5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Independiente Medellin were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.

Match

Ricardo Márquez sends Aguilas Doradas past Independiente Medellin

It finished 1‑0, and it was Ricardo Márquez’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Aguilas Doradas.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Ricardo Márquez at his very best

Marked 8.17. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Aguilas Doradas.

The dugout

No hiding place for John García

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to John García, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Oscar Valencia: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.

Market

The Iván Rojas talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Aguilas Doradas know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

32 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

8 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The wait goes on for Aguilas Doradas

5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Squad

Jorge Soto signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jorge Soto commits to Aguilas Doradas for another 2 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Aguilas Doradas

Jorge Soto 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.

Squad

Words at Aguilas Doradas training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Hernández 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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Aguilas Doradas against Atletico Nacional

0‑1 to Atletico Nacional, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Cristian Baldovino

“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 dugout

Oscar Valencia faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Oscar Valencia after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

Player ratings

Jorge Rivaldo was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 15. 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 dugout

When it matters, John García 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.

In brief

31 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

1 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Jorge Soto is the hero from the spot

A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Jorge Soto: 3 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.

Match

Aguilas Doradas march on in the cup

La Equidad are out and Aguilas Doradas go through, 0‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.

Player ratings

Carlos Londoño was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 29. 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.

Match

No end in sight to Aguilas Doradas's wait for a win

4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Aguilas Doradas has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

Jorge Soto 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 Aguilas Doradas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Juan Camilo Roa has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Aguilas Doradas can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Squad

A row about effort at Aguilas Doradas

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iván Rojas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Aguilas Doradas come up short against Envigado

Envigado left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Andrés Mosquera

“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.

In brief

30 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

22 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Serpeta beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 29. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Market

Aguilas Doradas turn down GIF Sundsvall for Andrés Carreño

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Iván Rojas has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Aguilas Doradas can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Squad

A falling-out at Aguilas Doradas

Jorge Soto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Aguilas Doradas

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iván Rojas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

A bad afternoon for Aguilas Doradas against Real Cartagena

0‑1 to Real Cartagena, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

Oscar Valencia faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Oscar Valencia after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Juan Esteban Ávalo

“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.

Market

Sebastián Macías is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Aguilas Doradas has been clear about where Sebastián Macías stands, which is more than many ever get.

In brief

29 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

15 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Serpeta

Successful dribbles: 36. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aguilas Doradas

Jorge Soto 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Aguilas Doradas

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Frank Lozano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Jorge Rivaldo at his very best

Marked 8.12. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Aguilas Doradas.

Match

Jorge Rivaldo rescues a point for Aguilas Doradas

It needed Jorge Rivaldo to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Deportes Quindio, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Cristian Díaz

“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 dugout

Half-satisfied: Oscar Valencia on the draw

“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.

The dugout

Juan Camilo Roa knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Juan Camilo Roa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Looking ahead

Duván Mósquera goes back to face Real Cartagena

Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Duván Mósquera’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Aguilas Doradas needing him to play as if none of it matters.

In brief

28 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

8 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

A brace, and Jorge Rivaldo takes the afternoon — 9.23

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jorge Rivaldo provided it, and the 9.23 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Market

Andrés Carreño has said yes to El Masry

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Aguilas Doradas have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Player ratings

Serpeta runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout

Andrés Carreño says Aguilas Doradas went back on their word

“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.

Squad

Tempers go at Aguilas Doradas

Ricardo Márquez 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.

Squad

Javier Mena signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Javier Mena and Aguilas Doradas agree another 4 years.

Squad

Words at Aguilas Doradas training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Frank Lozano 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.

Match

Jorge Rivaldo the difference as Aguilas Doradas beat Patriotas

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jorge Rivaldo. 2‑1 against Patriotas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

The terraces

One of their own: Javier Mena

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.

In brief

27 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

1 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

A brace, and Jorge Rivaldo takes the afternoon — 9.11

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jorge Rivaldo provided it, and the 9.11 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Market

Cristian Baldovino puts it in writing

“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 Aguilas Doradas, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Tempers go at Aguilas Doradas

Diego Hernández 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.

Squad

Iván Rojas 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.

Match

Aguilas Doradas get the job done against Cortulua

A 3‑1 win over Cortulua, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

The terraces

One of their own: Róyner Benítez

He is 21 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 ratings

Juan Camilo Roa runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market

Juan Esteban Ávalo wants European nights

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.

Squad

Frank Mena out for 21 days

The medical room confirms 21 days on the sidelines for Frank Mena, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

In brief

26 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

25 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

The dugout

Juan Camilo Roa keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Aguilas Doradas may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

A falling-out at Aguilas Doradas

Jorge Soto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

Serpeta runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Words at Aguilas Doradas training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Hernández 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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Aguilas Doradas against America de Cali

1‑3 to America de Cali, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

Number 50 for Ricardo Márquez

50 goals for this club, and somewhere in the stand there is a person who can still tell you where they were for most of them.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Ricardo Márquez

Marked 8.26 — 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.

The dugout

Oscar Valencia: “No excuses”

“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 dugout

Juan Esteban Ávalo gets it from the manager

“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.

In brief

25 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

18 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Juan Esteban Ávalo says Aguilas Doradas went back on their word

“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.

Market

Aguilas Doradas turn down Esbjerg for Andrés Carreño

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aguilas Doradas

Jorge Soto 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.

Squad

Words at Aguilas Doradas training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Rojas 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Hernán Lópes

“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.

Market

The Iván Rojas talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Aguilas Doradas know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

Róyner Benítez has been promised minutes

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 Róyner Benítez has written the date down.

Squad

Andrés Carreño wants out of the dugout

“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Aguilas Doradas will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.

Market

Aguilas Doradas put Jhonny Meza up for sale

The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Jhonny Meza may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.

In brief

24 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

11 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Tempers go at Aguilas Doradas

Jorge Soto 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.

Squad

Words at Aguilas Doradas training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Rojas 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.

Market

Atletico Nacional watching Andrés Carreño

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Aguilas Doradas have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

The dugout

Cristian Baldovino gets it from the manager

“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.

Squad

Fabian Banguero signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Fabian Banguero and Aguilas Doradas agree another 3 years.

Squad

No place for Fabian Banguero in the new shape

He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Aguilas Doradas are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.

Market

Diego Hernández linked with a move away

The name of Diego Hernández keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Aguilas Doradas say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

A door opens for Hernán Lópes

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.

Market

Aguilas Doradas put Luis Becerra up for sale

The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Luis Becerra may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.

In brief

23 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

4 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Cristian Baldovino keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Aguilas Doradas may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Jorge Soto out for 35 days

The medical room confirms 35 days on the sidelines for Jorge Soto, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Squad

Jorge Soto 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 Aguilas Doradas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Diego Hernández 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.

Transfer targets

Aguilas Doradas rebuffed over Oswaldo Virgen

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Toluca have kept their man, and Aguilas Doradas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Aguilas Doradas lose Frank Mena

53 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

The dugout

No hiding place for Róyner Benítez

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Róyner Benítez, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Juan Camilo Roa knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Juan Camilo Roa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

Hernán Lópes has been promised minutes

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 Hernán Lópes has written the date down.

In brief

22 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

28 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Racing come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Aguilas Doradas did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

A falling-out at Aguilas Doradas

Jorge Soto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Aguilas Doradas may not be able to give Juan Camilo Roa what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Juan Camilo Roa wants continental football; whether Aguilas Doradas can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad

A row about effort at Aguilas Doradas

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iván Rojas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Juan Camilo Roa

“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 dugout

Hernán Lópes has been promised minutes

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 Hernán Lópes has written the date down.

In brief

21 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

21 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Depor come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Aguilas Doradas did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

Aguilas Doradas may not be able to give Iván Rojas what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Iván Rojas wants continental football; whether Aguilas Doradas can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aguilas Doradas

Ricardo Márquez 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.

Squad

Words at Aguilas Doradas training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Rojas 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Andrés Mosquera

“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.

Squad

Aguilas Doradas are still strangers to each other

11 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.

Market

The Iván Rojas talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Aguilas Doradas know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

A door opens for Hernán Lópes

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.

Market

Talks stall between Aguilas Doradas and Luis Becerra

“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.

In brief

20 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

14 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Tempers go at Aguilas Doradas

Ricardo Márquez 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.

Squad

Words at Aguilas Doradas training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Hernández 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.

Transfer targets

Aguilas Doradas rebuffed over Joaquín Freitas

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Flamengo have kept their man, and Aguilas Doradas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Market

Daniel Valencia steps up from the Aguilas Doradas academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Daniel Valencia has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Market

Eyes on Keiner Arias again

The phone has started ringing about Keiner Arias again, and this time the name on the line is Depor. Aguilas Doradas are listening politely and promising nothing.

The dugout

No hiding place for Cristian Baldovino

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Cristian Baldovino, and the manager let it.

Squad

Ezequiel Palomeque signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ezequiel Palomeque commits to Aguilas Doradas for another 1 years.

The dugout

Iván Rojas knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Iván Rojas trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Squad

Cristian Díaz is a square peg at Aguilas Doradas

The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.

In brief

19 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

7 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Transfer targets

Aguilas Doradas make their move for Belajdi Pusi

$3.6M on the table at Fakel. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Oswaldo Virgen

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Aguilas Doradas have done the hard part with Toluca, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Market

Fabián Suárez Chalares moves on

Millonarios pay $890.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.

Squad

Jorge Soto 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 Aguilas Doradas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Aguilas Doradas training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Rojas 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.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Diego González

Aguilas Doradas asked and San Luis said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad

Javier Mena signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Javier Mena and Aguilas Doradas agree another 4 years.

Squad

John García is no longer first choice

The manager has re-ordered his thinking and John García 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.

The dugout

Iván Rojas 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 Aguilas Doradas, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

18 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

30 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A falling-out at Aguilas Doradas

Jorge Soto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Juan Esteban Ávalo has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Aguilas Doradas can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Squad

Iván Rojas 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.

Squad

Róyner Benítez has had enough of the bench

“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Aguilas Doradas will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.

The dugout

Cristian Baldovino knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Cristian Baldovino trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

A door opens for Hernán Lópes

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.

In brief

17 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Words exchanged at Aguilas Doradas

Jorge Soto 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.

Squad

Words at Aguilas Doradas training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Hernández 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 dugout

Róyner Benítez gets it from the manager

“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.

Squad

10 new faces, and Aguilas Doradas are still learning each other

A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.

The dugout

The manager makes Hernán Lópes a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Aguilas Doradas. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

Market

The Iván Rojas talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Aguilas Doradas know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

16 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

16 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Róyner Benítez says Aguilas Doradas went back on their word

“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.

Squad

Tempers go at Aguilas Doradas

Jorge Soto 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Aguilas Doradas

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Hernández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Juan Camilo Roa

“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.

Market

Diego Hernández linked with a move away

The name of Diego Hernández keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Aguilas Doradas say nothing, which says plenty.

Squad

Andrés Carreño has had enough of the bench

“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Aguilas Doradas will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.

In brief

15 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Fabián Suárez Chalares 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 Aguilas Doradas can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Jorge Soto 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 Aguilas Doradas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

One of our own: Gustavo Martinez joins the Aguilas Doradas first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Gustavo Martinez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market

One of our own: Kevin Sanchez joins the Aguilas Doradas first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Kevin Sanchez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Squad

A row about effort at Aguilas Doradas

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iván Rojas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

No hiding place for Andrés Álvarez

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrés Álvarez, and the manager let it.

The dugout

The manager makes John García a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Aguilas Doradas. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

Market

Aguilas Doradas put Luis Becerra up for sale

The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Luis Becerra may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.

Squad

Jorge Rivaldo has settled at Aguilas Doradas

The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.

In brief

14 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Andrés Mosquera keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Aguilas Doradas may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

A falling-out at Aguilas Doradas

Ricardo Márquez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Diego Hernández 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 dugout

No hiding place for Hernán Lópes

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hernán Lópes, and the manager let it.

Squad

Jorge Rivaldo makes the team of the month

Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.

Squad

The formation has left Dayron Mosquera behind

Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Aguilas Doradas will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.

Market

Talks stall between Aguilas Doradas and Duván Mósquera

“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.

The dugout

A door opens for Cristian Baldovino

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.

Market

The shop window has Sebastián Macías in it

Aguilas Doradas have let the market know Sebastián Macías can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.

In brief

13 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Johan Lopez damages knee ligaments — 14 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 14 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aguilas Doradas

Ricardo Márquez 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.

Market

Juan Camilo Roa has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Aguilas Doradas can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Squad

A row about effort at Aguilas Doradas

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Hernández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Cristian Baldovino gets it from the manager

“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.

Squad

Aguilas Doradas are still strangers to each other

20 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.

The dugout

Andrés Mosquera knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andrés Mosquera trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

A door opens for Hernán Lópes

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.

Market

The Róyner Benítez talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Aguilas Doradas know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

12 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Johan Lopez out for 22 days

22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Aguilas Doradas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Tempers go at Aguilas Doradas

Jorge Soto 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.

Market

Aguilas Doradas may not be able to give Iván Rojas what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Iván Rojas wants continental football; whether Aguilas Doradas can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad

Diego Hernández 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Juan Camilo Roa

“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.

Squad

Jhonny Meza signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jhonny Meza commits to Aguilas Doradas for another 2 years.

Market

Aguilas Doradas bring in an old head

Jhonny Meza is 33 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.

The dugout

A door opens for Hernán Lópes

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.

Market

The Iván Rojas question follows Aguilas Doradas around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Iván Rojas’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

11 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Johan Lopez out for 29 days

29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Aguilas Doradas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Player ratings

Jorge Rivaldo scores twice — 9.22

Two goals and a mark of 9.22 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Squad

Jorge Soto 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 Aguilas Doradas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Aguilas Doradas training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Hernández 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.

Match

Aguilas Doradas see off Once Caldas

Three points for Aguilas Doradas, 2‑1 the final word against Once Caldas in a contest settled by the finer margins.

The terraces

One of their own: Jorge Rivaldo

He is 23 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 ratings

Matías Ramírez runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market

One of our own: Brian Torres joins the Aguilas Doradas first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Brian Torres is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Squad

Luis Becerra signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Luis Becerra and Aguilas Doradas agree another 1 years.

In brief

10 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A falling-out at Aguilas Doradas

Jorge Soto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Róyner Benítez signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Róyner Benítez and Aguilas Doradas agree another 5 years.

Match

Santa Fe take the points off Aguilas Doradas

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

A row about effort at Aguilas Doradas

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iván Rojas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Róyner Benítez gets it from the manager

“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.

Player ratings

Jorge Rivaldo runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout

Oscar Valencia answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

Looking ahead

A test against the best for Aguilas Doradas

The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Once Caldas.

Squad

Róyner Benítez has had enough of the bench

“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Aguilas Doradas will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.

In brief

9 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Words exchanged at Aguilas Doradas

Jorge Soto 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 ratings

Nobody could get near Serpeta

Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market

Aguilas Doradas may not be able to give Juan Esteban Ávalo what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Juan Esteban Ávalo wants continental football; whether Aguilas Doradas can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad

Iván Rojas 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 dugout

Cristian Baldovino gets it from the manager

“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.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Aguilas Doradas

10 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.

Match

Aguilas Doradas and Millonarios take a point apiece

It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

The dugout

Oscar Valencia: “We have to be better”

“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.

Squad

A ban for Diego Hernández

One booking too many, and a game watched from the stand. Aguilas Doradas lose him for the most avoidable reason in the sport.

In brief

8 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Manuel Ramirez

21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aguilas Doradas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Tempers go at Aguilas Doradas

Jorge Soto 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.

Player ratings

Serpeta beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

The dugout

Diego Hernández gets it from the manager

“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.

Match

Aguilas Doradas come up short against Deportes Tolima

Deportes Tolima left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad

Fabián Suárez Chalares stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Fabián Suárez Chalares and Aguilas Doradas agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

The dugout

Oscar Valencia: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

Player ratings

Jorge Rivaldo could have had three

9 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.

Looking ahead

A reunion for Ricardo Márquez

He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Millonarios in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.

In brief

7 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Manuel Ramirez damages knee ligaments — 28 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 28 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Player ratings

Ricardo Márquez scores twice — 9.15

Two goals and a mark of 9.15 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Javier Mena at 21 — 7.92

The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Javier Mena did not need any: 7.92, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Player ratings

Serpeta was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 23. 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.

Match

Ricardo Márquez sends Aguilas Doradas past Envigado

It finished 2‑1, and it was Ricardo Márquez’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Aguilas Doradas.

The terraces

One of their own: Javier Mena

He is 21 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.

Market

Freddy Torres steps up from the Aguilas Doradas academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Freddy Torres has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Squad

Words at Aguilas Doradas training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Rojas 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Hernán Lópes

“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.

In brief

6 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Manuel Ramirez damages knee ligaments — 37 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 37 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Player ratings

Serpeta runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market

Aguilas Doradas say no — this time

The offer from Bnei Yehuda for Fabián Suárez Chalares 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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Aguilas Doradas against Atletico Bucaramanga

1‑3 to Atletico Bucaramanga, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Market

Aguilas Doradas may not be able to give Fabián Suárez Chalares what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Fabián Suárez Chalares wants continental football; whether Aguilas Doradas can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad

A row about effort at Aguilas Doradas

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iván Rojas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Tempers go at Aguilas Doradas

Serpeta 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Andrés Mosquera

“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.

Squad

Iván Rojas is no longer first choice

The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Iván Rojas 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.

In brief

  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • The dugout Juan Camilo Roa asks for a word with the manager
  • Looking ahead Jorge Soto faces his old club
5 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Manuel Ramirez

44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Aguilas Doradas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Serpeta

Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market

Not going: Andrés Carreño stays at Aguilas Doradas

“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Veres had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aguilas Doradas

Ricardo Márquez 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.

Market

Juan Camilo Roa has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Aguilas Doradas can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Market

Bnei Yehuda join the queue for Fabián Suárez Chalares

Add another name to the list: Bnei Yehuda have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Fabián Suárez Chalares. The answer from Aguilas Doradas has not changed — yet.

Match

Iván Rojas sends Aguilas Doradas past Alianza Petrolera

It finished 3‑1, and it was Iván Rojas’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Aguilas Doradas.

Player ratings

Jorge Rivaldo in the eights

A performance of 8.75 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Player ratings

Ricardo Márquez in the eights

A performance of 8.31 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

In brief

4 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Iván Rojas wants European nights

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Aguilas Doradas

Jorge Soto 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.

Market

Andrés Carreño attracts admirers

The name of Andrés Carreño has come up in conversations Aguilas Doradas were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Squad

Iván Rojas 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.

Match

Aguilas Doradas come up short against La Equidad

La Equidad left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

Oscar Valencia answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

Player ratings

Serpeta beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

The dugout

John García gets it from the manager

“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.

Squad

The division's best last weekend was a Aguilas Doradas man

It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Ricardo Márquez was the best thing in any of them.

In brief

3 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Serpeta beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 40. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Match

The small margins put Aguilas Doradas out

Out, 0‑2 to Envigado, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.

Match

Aguilas Doradas turn it around against Jaguares

Going 2 down does something to a side, and what it usually does is finish them. Not here. Aguilas Doradas rebuilt the afternoon goal by goal, and Jaguares had no answer to any of it.

Player ratings

A brace, and Ricardo Márquez takes the afternoon — 9.45

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ricardo Márquez provided it, and the 9.45 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Squad

Jorge Soto keeps Aguilas Doradas in it on his own

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.

Squad

Jorge Soto 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 Aguilas Doradas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Ricardo Márquez sends Aguilas Doradas past Jaguares

It finished 4‑3, and it was Ricardo Márquez’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Aguilas Doradas.

Squad

A row about effort at Aguilas Doradas

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iván Rojas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Aguilas Doradas are shipping goals every week

Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.

In brief

2 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Aguilas Doradas say no — this time

The offer from Santa Clara for Róyner Benítez 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Aguilas Doradas

Jorge Soto 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.

Match

Aguilas Doradas come up short against Junior

Junior left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Market

Manuel Ramirez steps up from the Aguilas Doradas academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Manuel Ramirez has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Market

Aguilas Doradas promote Nicolas Rangel from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Nicolas Rangel 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.

Market

Oscar Sinisterra steps up from the Aguilas Doradas academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Oscar Sinisterra has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

The dugout

Oscar Valencia: “No excuses”

“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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Fabián Suárez Chalares

Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Looking ahead

Jorge Soto goes back to face Jaguares

Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Jorge Soto’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Aguilas Doradas needing him to play as if none of it matters.

In brief

1 Edition

The Aguilas Doradas Gazette

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Gostaresh Foulad come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Aguilas Doradas did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

Frank Lozano wants European nights

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.

Squad

Jorge Soto stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Jorge Soto and Aguilas Doradas agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

A falling-out at Aguilas Doradas

Jorge Soto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Iván Rojas 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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Aguilas Doradas against Deportivo Cali

1‑3 to Deportivo Cali, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Player ratings

One of those days for Ricardo Márquez

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Market

Still no ink between Aguilas Doradas and Jorge Soto

“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Aguilas Doradas, another week without a signature from Jorge Soto.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Aguilas Doradas

11 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.

In brief