Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Alianza Petrolera they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Gerson Valencia 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Cuesta 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Alianza Petrolera has been clear about where David Barrero stands, which is more than many ever get.
Nobody at Alianza Petrolera will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Successful dribbles: 12. 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alianza Petrolera can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Alianza Petrolera they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Kevin Cuesta has agreed terms with Millonarios for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Cuesta is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alianza Petrolera this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Jhon Miranda has his answer from Alianza Petrolera; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Santiago de Ossa was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Luigi Cendales 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.
Marked 8.57 — 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.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
Déiber Caicedo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.37. 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.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
Nelson Palacio was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.06. 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.52 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 Alianza Petrolera, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
6 goals in one match, Ruyery Blanco on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Alianza Petrolera and Valledupar.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Alianza Petrolera can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The words a physio says slowly. 16 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Cuesta 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.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Alianza Petrolera will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Nobody at Alianza Petrolera will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
29 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Alianza Petrolera, another week without a signature from Yeison Murillo.
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Alianza Petrolera lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Alianza Petrolera, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alianza Petrolera this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Diego Hurtado is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mateo Medina 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Wilmar Valencia 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.
A club from his own country has asked the question, and he has never pretended he did not want to be asked. Alianza Petrolera have a conversation ahead of them that they will not win with money.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Jhon Ibargüen 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 words a physio says slowly. 31 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alianza Petrolera can pretend not to have heard.
Atletico Bucaramanga have accepted the money. What Alianza Petrolera do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Cuesta 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.
José Pérez 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Déiber Caicedo is on it.
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Alianza Petrolera lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer from Deportes Quindio for Gustavo Mosquera 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.
$110.0K on the table at Deportivo Pasto. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Kevin Cuesta 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Defensa y Justicia have kept their man, and Alianza Petrolera go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alianza Petrolera this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Santiago Guzmán is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 46 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franklin Mosquera 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.
Alianza Petrolera asked and Depor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Santiago de Ossa 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The offer from La Equidad for Ruyery Blanco was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Alianza Petrolera people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer went to Atletico Nacional this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Gustavo Torres and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Kevin Cuesta 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.
Nobody at Alianza Petrolera will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“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 Alianza Petrolera, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Union Magdalena 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.
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.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Alianza Petrolera have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Kevin Cuesta 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.
Alianza Petrolera asked and Millonarios said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nobody at Alianza Petrolera will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Antony Medrano
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Cuesta 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.
Santiago de Ossa 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Cuesta is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alianza Petrolera this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Alianza Petrolera, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Nobody at Alianza Petrolera will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
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.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Alianza Petrolera have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
This is not rotation. Juan David Rueda has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Alianza Petrolera is pretending otherwise.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Kevin Cuesta 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Gleyfer Medina is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Alianza Petrolera told Santiago Guzmán something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alianza Petrolera can pretend not to have heard.
Gustavo Torres was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Cuesta is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Alianza Petrolera told Kevin Cuesta something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Alianza Petrolera lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franklin Mosquera is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kevin Cuesta is on it.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting David Barrero's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
In brief
The dugoutJhon Miranda knocks on the manager's door
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Alianza Petrolera lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Kevin Cuesta falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alianza Petrolera this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Alianza Petrolera will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Alianza Petrolera lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Millonarios go through and Alianza Petrolera go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Alianza Petrolera have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Miguel Medina and Alianza Petrolera agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Kevin Cuesta 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 words a physio says slowly. 43 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alianza Petrolera can pretend not to have heard.
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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Alianza Petrolera will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Nobody at Alianza Petrolera will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The words a physio says slowly. 51 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Kevin Cuesta 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Santiago Guzmán is on it.
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.
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 David Montoya has written the date down.
63 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Alianza Petrolera lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Cuesta is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alianza Petrolera this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
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.
29 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
3 goals in 4 games at Lusitânia Lourosa — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Alianza Petrolera updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The words a physio says slowly. 70 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alianza Petrolera this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Samuel Asprilla and Alianza Petrolera agree another 4 years.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Alianza Petrolera, and 3 appearances in 30 say he has earned the hearing.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Déiber Caicedo is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Alianza Petrolera, and both men came out saying it was fine.
78 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Alianza Petrolera lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alianza Petrolera can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Cuesta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
85 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Alianza Petrolera lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Santiago de Ossa was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Cuesta 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Antony Medrano has his answer from Alianza Petrolera; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The words a physio says slowly. 92 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alianza Petrolera this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jhon Ibargüen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kevin Cuesta is on it.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting David Barrero's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
101 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Alianza Petrolera lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
José Pérez 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Cuesta 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Alianza Petrolera, and 0 appearances in 26 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
110 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Alianza Petrolera lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Alianza Petrolera, and it is not being withdrawn.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. La Equidad moved on, Ruyery Blanco reports back to Alianza Petrolera, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Cuesta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Luigi Cendales 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.
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.
117 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Alianza Petrolera lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The offer from La Equidad for Ruyery Blanco 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.
6 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Santiago de Ossa 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Jhon Ibargüen falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Alianza Petrolera will try again when the window opens; Deportivo Pereira may not be selling by then.
The words a physio says slowly. 124 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alianza Petrolera can pretend not to have heard.
Gustavo Torres and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Kevin Cuesta 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.
Nobody at Alianza Petrolera will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
David Barrero is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jhon Ibargüen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
131 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Alianza Petrolera lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Alianza Petrolera people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Alianza Petrolera had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Alianza Lima, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Cuesta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Argentinos Juniors have kept their man, and Alianza Petrolera go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Johan 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Alfredo Cordoba 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Jose 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 140 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.
The phone has started ringing about Ruyery Blanco again, and this time the name on the line is La Equidad. Alianza Petrolera are listening politely and promising nothing.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Rosario Central keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
$200.0K on the table at Union Magdalena. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Santiago de Ossa 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jhon Ibargüen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Alianza Petrolera, and it is not being withdrawn.
Position 6 on 29 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
The clubs have shaken hands with Deportivo Cali; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The deal with Rosario Central 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.
Santiago de Ossa 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Kevin Cuesta falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alianza Petrolera can pretend not to have heard.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
José Pérez 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.
Alianza Petrolera offered $30.0K; Envigado said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Cuesta is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It 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.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The deal with Deportivo Cali 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.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $33.4K — a club that wants Camilo Nieva enough to be asked twice.
The offer went to Envigado this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Déiber Caicedo was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $4.2M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Junior have accepted the money. What Alianza Petrolera do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Santiago de Ossa 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Luigi Cendales is living that version at Alianza Petrolera, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Cuesta 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Envigado have kept their man, and Alianza Petrolera go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alan Vargas and Alianza Petrolera agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alianza Petrolera can pretend not to have heard.
Gustavo Torres 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Cuesta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Alianza Petrolera told José Pérez something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Wilmar Ramirez after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Alianza Petrolera, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Alianza Petrolera scored in the 92th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jhon Ibargüen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Ever Valencia was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.14. 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.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Gustavo Torres was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“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 Alianza Petrolera, and it is not being withdrawn.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.55 for the rest of it.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Cuesta 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Roberto Vanegas. 3‑1 against Leones, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gustavo Torres provided it, and the 8.84 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Santiago de Ossa 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Kevin Cuesta 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alianza Petrolera can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alianza Petrolera this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jhon Ibargüen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I did not go to Lusitânia Lourosa to sit and watch. I want to come back to Alianza Petrolera and fight for my place.” 12 appearances in 12 matches say the rest.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Wilmar Ramirez after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alianza Petrolera can pretend not to have heard.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 17 actions, 6.74, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Cuesta 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.
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.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Alianza Petrolera may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Kevin Cuesta falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Alianza Petrolera told David Montoya something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Wilmar Ramirez left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
Player ratingsEver Valencia beats them one at a time
Player ratingsThe afternoon ran through Miguel Medina
“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 Alianza Petrolera, and it is not being withdrawn.
Gustavo Torres 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jhon Ibargüen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Freddy Castillo 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.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Franklin Mosquera's mistake
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alianza Petrolera can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Alianza Petrolera have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Cuesta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.24 — 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.
Minute 86, against Bogota, 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.
Santiago de Ossa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Kevin Cuesta 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.
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.
Nobody at Alianza Petrolera will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Gustavo Torres has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Kevin Cuesta’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Alianza Petrolera needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Alianza Petrolera, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gustavo Torres provided it, and the 8.88 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
A brace, and Ruyery Blanco takes the afternoon — 8.88
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ruyery Blanco provided it, and the 8.88 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alianza Petrolera this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Alianza Petrolera and Universitario Popayan, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jhon Ibargüen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alianza Petrolera can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alianza Petrolera this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Cuesta 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.
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.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alianza Petrolera can pretend not to have heard.
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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Miguel Medina and Alianza Petrolera agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Jhon Ibargüen 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Felipe Perez 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Gustavo Mina is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Alianza Petrolera lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
A 3‑3 win over Union Magdalena, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Alianza Petrolera has to find a result from somewhere.
José Pérez 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Alianza Petrolera have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alianza Petrolera this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Pérez 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.
Nobody at Alianza Petrolera will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alianza Petrolera can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Alianza Petrolera have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Kevin Cuesta falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A 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 dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Wilmar Ramirez left the room before anybody could ask which.
Two goals and a mark of 9.01 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 Alianza Petrolera, and it is not being withdrawn.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Steven Hernández scored, was marked 7.75, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Santiago de Ossa 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Roberto Vanegas and Alianza Petrolera agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Cuesta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Alianza Petrolera have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Alan Vargas is living that version at Alianza Petrolera, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Franklin Mosquera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ancizar Aragón and Alianza Petrolera agree another 3 years.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Alianza Petrolera can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
José Pérez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Cuesta 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.
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.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Fortaleza CEIF were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Alianza Petrolera hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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.
10 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.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Edwin Cordoba is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Cristian Santos is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Juan Diaz 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Maykel Reyes and Alianza Petrolera agree another 2 years.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Alianza Petrolera are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Nobody at Alianza Petrolera will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The arithmetic ran out, and everybody could see it coming from a distance. The hard summer starts now, and next season's fixtures will be full of unfamiliar names.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Alianza Petrolera is running low.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Alianza Petrolera can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Alianza Petrolera heard it as anything else.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Fabian Banguero and Alianza Petrolera agree another 3 years.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Position 20 and 5 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Alianza Petrolera have done the hard part with Independiente Medellin, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.
Atletico Nacional have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Alianza Petrolera are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Alianza Petrolera lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The deal with Jaguares 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Michael Barragán has, at Alianza Petrolera, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Santiago de Ossa 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.
7 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.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Alianza Petrolera lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Alianza Petrolera have gone to CSKA Sofia with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The clubs have shaken hands with Fortaleza CEIF; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $10.7M — a club that wants Maks Ebong enough to be asked twice.
Alianza Petrolera asked and Deportes Tolima said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nobody at Alianza Petrolera will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Alianza Petrolera, another week without a signature from Samuel Asprilla.
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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Alianza Petrolera is running low.
José Pérez 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Samuel Asprilla has just signed for Alianza Petrolera, and for once the answer mattered.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kevin Cuesta is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Alianza Petrolera know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
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.
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.
Santiago de Ossa 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Miguel Medina is on it.
In brief
The dugoutJhon Ibargüen knocks on the manager's door
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Alianza Petrolera, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Position 20 and 5 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Alianza Petrolera has to find a result from somewhere.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alianza Petrolera this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Wilmar Ramirez to a room that had heard them before.
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.
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.
25 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Wilmar Ramirez left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Up for the corner, and Kevin Cuesta delivers — 7.81
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Kevin Cuesta scored, was marked 7.81, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Nobody at Alianza Petrolera will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Wilmar Ramirez was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Alianza Petrolera dressing room was either.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Alianza Petrolera are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Alianza Petrolera will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kevin Cuesta is on it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Alianza Petrolera, another week without a signature from Roberto Vanegas.
Union Magdalena next, and one man in the Alianza Petrolera dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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 Géiler Mosquera has written the date down.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Alianza Petrolera would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
A new face in his position, and Daniel Bocanegra suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Alianza Petrolera have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Wilmar Ramirez after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Juan Camilo Arturo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Successful dribbles: 7. 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.
Santiago de Ossa 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.
22 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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Wilmar Ramirez left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Wilmar Ramirez, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Miguel Medina is on it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Alianza Petrolera has to find a result from somewhere.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Alianza Petrolera are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kevin Cuesta is on it.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
13 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
His past walked in ahead of him. Players who have been where he has been get a hearing in a dressing room before they have earned one, and he has it for as long as his form does.
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.
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 Miguel Suárez has written the date down.
A decision that decides nothing on the pitch and everything in the room. The manager has said, without saying it, whose voice he wants heard when his own is not there.
0‑4 against America de Cali, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
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.
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.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Juan Camilo Arturo knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
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
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Ruyery Blanco
0‑4 to Once Caldas, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Junior go through and Alianza Petrolera go home, 1‑7 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
It finished 1-7. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
8 goals in one match, Miguel Medina on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Alianza Petrolera and Junior.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
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 0‑4 defeat, delivered by Wilmar Ramirez to a room that had heard them before.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 14-year-old it feels ownership of. Wilmar Giraldo 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 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.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Wilmar Ramirez to a room that had heard them before.
Santiago de Ossa was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Wilmar Giraldo 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Pablo Hurtado 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Felipe Medina is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Hector Giraldo is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Alianza Petrolera will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ruyery Blanco and Alianza Petrolera agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Alianza Petrolera and Deportes Tolima, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Alianza Petrolera are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
13 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Wilmar Ramirez after 0‑6, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.