Universidad de Chile go through and Colo-Colo go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
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.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.12 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Luis Vázquez 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luis Montecinos will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colo-Colo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marcelo Beausejour and Colo-Colo agree another 4 years.
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.
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings6 Sep 2038
Carlos Maripan, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.21
A mark of 8.21 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colo-Colo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Colo-Colo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Colo-Colo heard it as anything 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 Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Universidad Catolica kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Colo-Colo will be asked about the last half hour all week.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.62 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colo-Colo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Luis Vázquez 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 the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Agustín Gauna wants continental football; whether Colo-Colo can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad30 Aug 2038
Words at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Villagra 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 15 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Ivan Suazo had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Universidad de Chile were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
“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 Colo-Colo, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.90 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Aug 2038
Words at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Parfait Guiagon 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.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.32 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Luis Vázquez 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colo-Colo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad16 Aug 2038
Words at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Villagra 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.
A performance of 8.87 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings16 Aug 2038
Erick Fernandez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.52. 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.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.65 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colo-Colo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jonathan Villagra and Colo-Colo agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colo-Colo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jonathan Villagra and Colo-Colo agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Luis Vázquez 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 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 3‑1 win over Santiago Wanderers, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 20 combined actions and a mark of 6.95, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The offer from Universidad de Concepcion for Carlos Maripan 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colo-Colo can pretend not to have heard.
29 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.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.64 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
Luis Vázquez 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.
Danilo Ruiz Díaz had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and San Marcos de Arica were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.00 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The offer from Palestino for Juan Sagal 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 agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colo-Colo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ezequiel Cañete 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.
In brief
SquadDefences have started doubling up on Ivan Suazo
SquadWords at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
7‑2, and Ivan Suazo took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Colo-Colo tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings5 Jul 2038
A brace, and Luis Vázquez takes the afternoon — 8.58
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Luis Vázquez provided it, and the 8.58 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 10.00 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
100 appearances across 10 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Colo-Colo heard it as anything else.
Ezequiel Cañete 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 an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.54 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The deal that would have taken Erick Fernandez to Universidad de Concepcion has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Colo-Colo with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colo-Colo can pretend not to have heard.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Agustín Gauna wants continental football; whether Colo-Colo can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad28 Jun 2038
Words at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Villagra 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.
32 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.00 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Ezequiel Cañete 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colo-Colo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Colo-Colo have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad21 Jun 2038
Words at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Parfait Guiagon 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.40 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
“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 Colo-Colo, 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 Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jun 2038
Words at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Villagra 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: Luis Vázquez. 3‑1 against Cobresal, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
In brief
Player ratingsErick Fernandez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colo-Colo can pretend not to have heard.
Ezequiel Cañete 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colo-Colo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsIvan Suazo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Player ratingsThe one thing Luis Vázquez could not do
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.61 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arturo Beausejour will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colo-Colo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
8 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Ezequiel Cañete 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colo-Colo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Three points for Colo-Colo, 1‑0 the final word against O'Higgins in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings24 May 2038
Agustín Gauna was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.15. 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.
16 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.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Luis Vázquez
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
8 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Juan Sagal will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colo-Colo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad17 May 2038
Words at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Villagra 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 the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Felipe Faúndez wants continental football; whether Colo-Colo can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ivan Suazo 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.84 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Erick Fernandez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colo-Colo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ezequiel Cañete 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.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Marcelo Beausejour is a Colo-Colo player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colo-Colo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 Colo-Colo hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad3 May 2038
Words at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Villagra 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.
Marked 8.97 — 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 18 combined actions and a mark of 7.33, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Brandon Cortés will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colo-Colo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ezequiel Cañete 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 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 20 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Colo-Colo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.16 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colo-Colo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ivan Suazo 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.
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Colo-Colo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
0‑3 to Audax Italiano, 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colo-Colo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ezequiel Cañete 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 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.
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Colo-Colo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 56 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
“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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colo-Colo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Marked 8.32 — 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.
In brief
BoardroomNobody left the Colo-Colo dressing room in a hurry
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 63 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.54 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Brandon Cortés will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colo-Colo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ezequiel Cañete 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.
“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.
Squad29 Mar 2038
Words at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastián Meza 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 goal that put San Marcos de Arica ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Colo-Colo equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 70 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.57 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colo-Colo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 77 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings15 Mar 2038
A brace, and Ivan Suazo takes the afternoon — 9.26
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ivan Suazo provided it, and the 9.26 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colo-Colo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ezequiel Cañete 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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ivan Suazo. 2‑1 against Universidad de Concepcion, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 84 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.97 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colo-Colo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
1‑2 to Antofagasta, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings8 Mar 2038
Erick Fernandez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.45. 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.
Boardroom8 Mar 2038
Nobody left the Colo-Colo dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 91 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Luis Vázquez scored in the 85th minute, Cobresal had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Colo-Colo took the lot.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.43 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colo-Colo can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Brandon Cortés will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colo-Colo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ezequiel Cañete 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 22 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad1 Mar 2038
Words at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Varane 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.
21 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 98 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Colo-Colo 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 Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. José Luis Torres will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colo-Colo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
12 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 105 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two goals and a mark of 8.48 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Erick Fernandez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colo-Colo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ezequiel Cañete 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.
Squad15 Feb 2038
Words at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastián Meza 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.
16 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Eduardo Vargas 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 112 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Colo-Colo heard it as anything else.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 119 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Colo-Colo heard it as anything else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colo-Colo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 126 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. José Luis Torres will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colo-Colo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
In brief
SquadWords at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 133 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colo-Colo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ezequiel Cañete 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colo-Colo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ivan Suazo and Colo-Colo agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad11 Jan 2038
Words at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Villagra 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 the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Felipe Faúndez wants continental football; whether Colo-Colo can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Cobresal will make the call about Erick Fernandez this week. Colo-Colo have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
371 appearances across 10 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
“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 Colo-Colo hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jonathan Villagra and Colo-Colo agree another 2 years.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Brandon Cortés will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colo-Colo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ezequiel Cañete 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.
28 games, 13 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Colo-Colo now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Cristian Mena will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colo-Colo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The bid was some way short and Colo-Colo did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad28 Dec 2037
Words at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Villagra 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.
Add another name to the list: Cobresal have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Erick Fernandez. The answer from Colo-Colo has not changed — yet.
He is going to Universidad Catolica, the club has $3.5M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Universidad Catolica pay $3.5M, 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colo-Colo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ezequiel Cañete 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 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.
Audax Italiano paid $390.0K and Colo-Colo took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Colo-Colo have had the benefit of it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colo-Colo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Santiago Wanderers pay $660.0K, 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colo-Colo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ezequiel Cañete 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.
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.
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 phone has started ringing about Arturo Beausejour again, and this time the name on the line is Cobresal. Colo-Colo are listening politely and promising nothing.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Benjamin Mena will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colo-Colo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Colo-Colo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Ezequiel Cañete 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Juan Sagal will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colo-Colo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Caio Farias will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colo-Colo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad16 Nov 2037
Words at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Villagra 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colo-Colo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ezequiel Cañete 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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Nobody 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colo-Colo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Colo-Colo heard it as anything 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 Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colo-Colo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad26 Oct 2037
Words at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Villagra 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.
Ezequiel Cañete 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colo-Colo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexis Bravo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colo-Colo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2037
Benjamin Mena 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colo-Colo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Colo-Colo heard it as anything 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 Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colo-Colo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad28 Sep 2037
Words at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Villagra 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.
Ezequiel Cañete 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colo-Colo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
In brief
SquadWords at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colo-Colo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2037
Words at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Villagra 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sebastián Meza, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Sep 2037
The manager has not finished forgetting Sebastián Meza'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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Benjamin Mena will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colo-Colo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 Colo-Colo hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Ezequiel Cañete 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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colo-Colo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Colo-Colo and Universidad Catolica, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Marked 8.06 — 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.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.83 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Ezequiel Cañete 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colo-Colo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
6 goals in one match, Gedeon Díaz on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Colo-Colo and Universidad de Chile.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexis Bravo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colo-Colo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Luis Vázquez 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.
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.
Squad17 Aug 2037
Words at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Villagra 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Benjamin Mena will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colo-Colo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.47 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2037
Words at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Parfait Guiagon 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 needed Benjamin Mena to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Union Espanola, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
9 goals in 24 games at Palestino — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Colo-Colo updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.30 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Colo-Colo heard it as anything 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 Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2037
Words at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Villagra 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.
Ezequiel Cañete 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 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.
12 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
“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 Colo-Colo, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.56 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alexis Bravo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colo-Colo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 20 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colo-Colo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.58 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Ezequiel Cañete 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 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 phone has started ringing about Jose Sierralta again, and this time the name on the line is Palestino. Colo-Colo are listening politely and promising nothing.
“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 Colo-Colo, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
“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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
23 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.
Squad6 Jul 2037
Words at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Villagra 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.17 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colo-Colo can pretend not to have heard.
Ezequiel Cañete 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.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colo-Colo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad29 Jun 2037
Words at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Parfait Guiagon 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 name of Juan Sagal has come up in conversations Colo-Colo were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.81 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colo-Colo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad22 Jun 2037
Words at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Villagra 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.
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Colo-Colo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.89 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Ezequiel Cañete 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 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Colo-Colo and Cobresal in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Colo-Colo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 2, 35 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.84 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.86 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jonathan Villagra and Colo-Colo agree another 2 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Colo-Colo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There were 86 minutes on the clock and San Luis had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Colo-Colo did not stop to explain themselves.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.62 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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 Colo-Colo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ezequiel Cañete 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colo-Colo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
San Luis made Colo-Colo work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad1 Jun 2037
Words at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Varane 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.
54 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Colo-Colo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.36 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marcelo Beausejour will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colo-Colo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad25 May 2037
Words at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Villagra 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.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. O'Higgins tried to reorganise, Colo-Colo did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
In brief
Player ratingsThe cruellest goal, and it is Gedeon Díaz's
61 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Colo-Colo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.12 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Ezequiel Cañete 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.
Squad18 May 2037
Words at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Parfait Guiagon 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 the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
68 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Colo-Colo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 3, 26 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.30 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colo-Colo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad11 May 2037
Words at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Villagra 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.
6 goals in one match, Luis Vázquez on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Colo-Colo and Universidad de Chile.
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Benjamin Mena at his very best
75 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Colo-Colo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Colo-Colo heard it as anything else.
Ezequiel Cañete 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colo-Colo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
82 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Colo-Colo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 8.79 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.17 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colo-Colo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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 3‑2 win over Union Espanola, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
89 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Colo-Colo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.27 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Ezequiel Cañete 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colo-Colo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
96 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Colo-Colo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 8.83 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.52 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Juan Pablo Reyes will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colo-Colo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad13 Apr 2037
Words at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Villagra 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.
103 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Colo-Colo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 8.95 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.75 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Colo-Colo heard it as anything else.
Ezequiel Cañete 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colo-Colo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
110 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Colo-Colo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.61 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marcelo Beausejour will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colo-Colo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad30 Mar 2037
Words at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Villagra 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Colo-Colo and San Marcos de Arica, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Marked 8.71 — 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.
117 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Colo-Colo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Álvaro Abarzúa obliged against Antofagasta. 3‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Colo-Colo.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ian Glavinovich provided it, and the 8.87 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Álvaro Abarzúa provided it, and the 8.62 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.65 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
Ezequiel Cañete 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colo-Colo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
124 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Colo-Colo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.11 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Colo-Colo 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 Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Juan Pablo Reyes will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colo-Colo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 ratings16 Mar 2037
Gedeon Díaz was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.35. 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Danilo Ruiz Díaz had Colo-Colo level again within 3 minutes, and Universidad de Concepcion never got to play with a lead at all.
131 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Colo-Colo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
5 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.30 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
26 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.
Ezequiel Cañete 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colo-Colo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
138 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Colo-Colo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 87th, and Cobresal spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.02 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marcelo Beausejour will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colo-Colo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
145 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Colo-Colo lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.36 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
27 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Ezequiel Cañete 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gianni Peirano will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colo-Colo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.55 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colo-Colo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad16 Feb 2037
Words at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Villagra 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.
15 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 21 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
The words a physio says slowly. 20 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 Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 27 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Colo-Colo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The words a physio says slowly. 34 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Colo-Colo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 41 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Colo-Colo will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Colo-Colo have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Ezequiel Cañete 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colo-Colo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The words a physio says slowly. 48 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 Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colo-Colo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Audax Italiano moved on, Caio Farias reports back to Colo-Colo, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad12 Jan 2037
Words at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomás Alarcón 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 words a physio says slowly. 55 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.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Colo-Colo will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Colo-Colo can pretend not to have heard.
Ezequiel Cañete 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colo-Colo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The words a physio says slowly. 62 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 Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colo-Colo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The words a physio says slowly. 69 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.
“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 Colo-Colo, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ezequiel Cañete 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colo-Colo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Juan Pablo Reyes 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.
In brief
SquadTomás Alarcón falls out with a teammate over standards
The words a physio says slowly. 76 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.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Colo-Colo have had the benefit of it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Colo-Colo is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The offer from Santiago Wanderers for Benjamin Mena 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Bruno Unušić 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
The words a physio says slowly. 83 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.
Ezequiel Cañete 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.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Colo-Colo they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
In brief
SquadWords at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
The words a physio says slowly. 90 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 Colo-Colo can pretend not to have heard.
“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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marcelo Beausejour will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Colo-Colo the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad1 Dec 2036
Words at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franco Iturriaga 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 words a physio says slowly. 97 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.
Ezequiel Cañete 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
The words a physio says slowly. 104 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 Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Nov 2036
Words at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Villagra 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 words a physio says slowly. 111 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.
Ezequiel Cañete 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 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. 118 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 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 Colo-Colo hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jonathan Villagra and Colo-Colo agree another 2 years.
Ezequiel Cañete 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 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 Colo-Colo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Oct 2036
Words at Colo-Colo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Villagra 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.