A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Jaguares will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Jaguares have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The offer from Ethnikos Achnas for Thiago Caballero 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.
Luis Escorcia 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Jaguares will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
Up for the corner, and Mateo Seoane delivers — 7.59
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Mateo Seoane scored, was marked 7.59, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
The offer from PK-35 for Jean Galindo 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Luis Escorcia and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Jaguares will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Add another name to the list: Ethnikos Achnas have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Thiago Caballero. The answer from Jaguares has not changed — yet.
A point taken on 93 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
7.86, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Jaguares had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad31 Jan 2028
9 new faces, and Jaguares are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Jaguares will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Cortulua the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Jaguares will enjoy reviewing.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Andrés Rentería provided it, and the 8.75 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Jaguares have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Axel Batista wants continental football; whether Jaguares can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
5 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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Thiago Caballero will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Jaguares 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 Jaguares this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Johan Hinestroza trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Thiago Caballero is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Jaguares. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
BoardroomThe Jaguares production line keeps running
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Jaguares will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jaguares can pretend not to have heard.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Jean Galindo reports back to Jaguares with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Jaguares asked and Aguilas Doradas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jaguares this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Jaguares are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andrés Rentería trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Jaguares will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Mateo Seoane arrived with a record at a bigger club than this one, and the room has treated him accordingly. The young ones watch him train; the senior ones watch to see whether it lasts.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Jaguares will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Jaguares have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jaguares can pretend not to have heard.
The fee is $61.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Deportivo Pereira drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Luis Escorcia and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Jaguares will try again when the window opens; Cortulua may not be selling by then.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 120 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Everything agreed with Deportivo Pereira, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The fee is $190.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Union Magdalena drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Jaguares have gone to Cortulua with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Luis Escorcia 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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Jaguares have done the hard part with Union Magdalena, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Jaguares asked and Westerlo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Carlos Cantillo'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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Jaguares has been clear about where Jonathan Lovera stands, which is more than many ever get.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Jaguares know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutDuván Rodríguez has become a man the manager trusts
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Leones waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Jaguares is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Jaguares, and it is not being withdrawn.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 39 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Jaguares offered $92.0K; Depor said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Jaguares asked and Junior said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Thiago Caballero is on it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Carlos Cantillo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Jaguares the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 Jaguares, and it is not being withdrawn.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $100.0K — a club that wants Juan Diego Perdomo enough to be asked twice.
David Martínez 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 offer went to Depor this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The phone has started ringing about Thiago Caballero again, and this time the name on the line is Angostura. Jaguares are listening politely and promising nothing.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Esteban Beltrán is on it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Andrés Rentería has his answer from Jaguares; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jaguares this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andrés Rentería trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Hernán Labraga is on it.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Jaguares can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Sebastián Buitrago has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Jaguares have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Félix Uculmana 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 dugout22 Nov 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Carlos Cantillo'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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Jaguares know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody at Jaguares will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Juan Deusa is training like a man with a point to make
Nobody has promised him anything and he has not asked. The coaching staff have noticed, which at this stage of a season is the only thing that matters.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Jaguares will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Hernán Labraga and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Juan David Guillén trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The words a physio says slowly. 19 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Jaguares they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
David Martínez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Esteban Beltrán is on it.
4 clean sheets from 22 appearances at Alianza Petrolera. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
“I will play as long as the body lets me and stop the day it does not.” He is 33, with 250 appearances behind him, and the club has to plan for a decision that is not yet made.
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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.
Position 17 on 41 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
“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 Jaguares, and it is not being withdrawn.
David Martínez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Carlos Henao trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
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.
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.
It finished 2‑0, and it was Gastón González’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Jaguares.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Gastón González was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.16. 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.
Duván Riascos and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Sergio Arias, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Carlos Cantillo'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.
The words a physio says slowly. 42 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.
Félix Uculmana and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Sergio Arias after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Jaguares has been clear about where Hernán Labraga stands, which is more than many ever get.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Deportivo Cali next, and one man in the Jaguares dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The words a physio says slowly. 50 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Jaguares is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Esteban Beltrán is on it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Didier Bueno’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Jaguares needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Jaguares, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 58 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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.
“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 Jaguares, and it is not being withdrawn.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.98 for the rest of it.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Wilfrido De La Rosa and Jaguares agree another 2 years.
6 goals in one match, David Martínez on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Jaguares and Atletico Nacional.
The words a physio says slowly. 65 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.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Something was said to Gastón González and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jaguares this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
6 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.
72 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Jaguares lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jaguares 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. Axel Batista wants continental football; whether Jaguares can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Jaguares is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Jaguares pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
79 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Jaguares lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jaguares can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Jaguares have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Carlos Cantillo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Jaguares the goodbyes have quietly begun.
David Martínez 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.
86 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jaguares lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Roberto Riascos is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Nobody at Jaguares will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The words a physio says slowly. 93 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.
Félix Uculmana 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Carlos Henao will call it something else in private.
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Sergio Arias left the room before anybody could ask which.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The offer from Paredes for Jean Galindo 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.
“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 Jaguares, 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. 7.84 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Duván Riascos 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Roberto Riascos trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Jaguares they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The name of Jean Galindo has come up in conversations Jaguares were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jaguares this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Jaguares has been clear about where Jean Galindo stands, which is more than many ever get.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Sergio Arias was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Jaguares dressing room was either.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Roberto Riascos will call it something else in private.
Romario Murcia 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 — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Jaguares will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Ánderson Mojica has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Jaguares.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Sergio Arias was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Jaguares dressing room was either.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Esteban Beltrán is on it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.50 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Up for the corner, and Royscer Colpa delivers — 7.82
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Royscer Colpa scored, was marked 7.82, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Jáder Maza reports back to Jaguares with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Jaguares and Santa Fe in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Deportes Tolima have kept their man, and Jaguares go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jaguares can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 3 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Duván Riascos 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.
Jaguares ran out of time with Deportivo Pereira. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Sergio Arias left the room before anybody could ask which.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Jáder Maza had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Carlos Cantillo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Jaguares the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Millonarios have kept their man, and Jaguares go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jaguares 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 Jaguares is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Jaguares asked and Millonarios said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jaguares this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Jaguares has been clear about where Carlos Cantillo stands, which is more than many ever get.
It needed Esteban Beltrán to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Deportivo Pasto, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Envigado have accepted the money. What Jaguares do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“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 Jaguares, and it is not being withdrawn.
Jaguares asked and Deportes Tolima said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Duván Riascos and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Jaguares has been clear about where Jáder Maza stands, which is more than many ever get.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Depor waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Jaguares is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jaguares can pretend not to have heard.
Duván Riascos 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.
At 34, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Sergio Arias left the room before anybody could ask which.
“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 Jaguares, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Esteban Beltrán provided it, and the 8.30 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Jaguares is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
6 goals in one match, Esteban Beltrán on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Jaguares and La Equidad.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Jaguares is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Deportivo Pereira wanted more than $51.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Deportes Tolima have kept their man, and Jaguares go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Jaguares have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The chase for Juan David Guillén ended with $210.0K changing hands and Real Santander out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Jaguares offered $370.0K; Barranquilla said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Jaguares asked and Millonarios said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
0‑3 to Junior, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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 Jaguares, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $400.0K — a club that wants Javier Ortíz enough to be asked twice.
Jaguares have gone to Barranquilla with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
$47.0K on the table at Deportivo Pereira. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Duván Riascos and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“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 Jaguares, and it is not being withdrawn.
Duván Riascos 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 are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jaguares can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Jaguares they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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 easiest signature of my career.” Jonathan Lovera and Jaguares agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Sergio Arias left the room before anybody could ask which.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 15 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.06, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout17 May 2027
Carlos Henao is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Millonarios go through and Jaguares go home, 1‑4 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Jaguares have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Jaguares will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It finished 1-4. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Thiago Caballero, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.65
A mark of 7.65 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.87 for the rest of it.
Duván Riascos and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Jaguares will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.90 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Jaguares can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Esteban Beltrán is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.93 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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. 7.92 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Jaguares 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 Jaguares this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jaguares this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Jean Galindo has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Sergio Arias could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutCarlos Henao knocks on the manager's door
Duván Riascos 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 89. Aguilas Doradas had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Cristian Álvarez has his answer from Jaguares; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Two goals and a mark of 8.39 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Jaguares is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. America de Cali spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Jaguares, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Jaguares they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Everybody at Jaguares saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against America de Cali in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Jaguares. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jaguares this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The goal that put Once Caldas ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Jaguares equalised, 1 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Sergio Arias after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Jaguares, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.94 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
7.95, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Romario Murcia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Sergio Arias, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Once Caldas in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.82 at 34, 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.” Wilfrido De La Rosa and Jaguares agree another 2 years.
Duván Riascos and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Sergio Arias on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Santa Fe.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
In brief
The dugoutMarlon Sierra has become a man the manager trusts
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jaguares can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Jaguares they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Jaguares can tell you which week it ends in.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jaguares this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
12 combined actions and 6.93. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Royscer Colpa, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Sergio Arias to a room that had heard them before.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Félix Uculmana and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Sergio Arias chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Jaguares, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Deportivo Pasto in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jaguares can pretend not to have heard.
Duván Riascos and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Jaguares know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Carlos Cantillo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Jaguares the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Royscer Colpa is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Sergio Arias after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andrés Rentería trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
The offer from Ypsonas for Jean Galindo 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.
4 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Alfredo Valencia has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Rafael Gomez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jesus Martinez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Duván Riascos 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Palmeiras have kept their man, and Jaguares go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Duván Riascos and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Jaguares will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Jaguares know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Jaguares, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutDuván Rodríguez has become a man the manager trusts
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Carlos Cantillo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Jaguares the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Patriotas have kept their man, and Jaguares go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Luis Becerra is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The offer from Atletico Nacional for Esteban Beltrán 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.
Atletico Nacional wanted more than $420.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
The offer went to Atletico Nacional this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
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.
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The deal with Newell's Old Boys is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Jaguares have gone to Atletico Nacional with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Jaguares offered $620.0K; Patriotas said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. River Plate have kept their man, and Jaguares go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Duván Riascos 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 settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Jaguares people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Jaguares have gone to Patriotas with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Duván Riascos and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Jaguares have made the call to Newell's Old Boys. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Jaguares, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Jaguares has been clear about where Duván Rodríguez stands, which is more than many ever get.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Jaguares people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jaguares can pretend not to have heard.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olimpia have kept their man, and Jaguares go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Romario Murcia 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Darwin López has his answer from Jaguares; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Leones will make the call about Franklin Mosquera this week. Jaguares have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jaguares this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Jaguares will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Jaguares, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Duván Riascos 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Johan Hinestroza trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Jaguares. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Duván Riascos and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Julián Figueroa is 33 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Jaguares, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Jaguares that is a harder question to answer.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Santiago Cubides will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Jaguares 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 Jaguares this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Roberto Riascos provided it, and the 9.29 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
14 combined actions and 7.50. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jaguares this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Duván Riascos 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.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Roberto Riascos is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 14 combined actions and a mark of 7.15, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Sergio Arias left the room before anybody could ask which.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
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.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. Independiente Medellin will replay every second of the added time for a week.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.60 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Roberto Riascos. 3‑2 against Independiente Medellin, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jaguares this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Santiago Cubides will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Jaguares the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Independiente Medellin next, and one man in the Jaguares dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Duván Rodríguez is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Jaguares. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
2‑5 to Atletico Nacional, 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.
1 for Cristian Álvarez, marked 7.46, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
7 goals in one match, Faber Gil on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Jaguares and Atletico Nacional.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jaguares this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.09 — 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Wilfrido De La Rosa provided it, and the 8.89 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Jaguares and Union Magdalena in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Duván Riascos 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.
Marked 8.18 — 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.
Marked 8.02 — 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.
Duván Rodríguez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Sergio Arias after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Faber Gil trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Royscer Colpa’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Jaguares needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Jaguares they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑4 Sergio Arias left the room before anybody could ask which.
Beaten 4 times, with 3 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Diego Martínez’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Jaguares needing him to play as if none of it matters.
20 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Jaguares will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Deportivo Pereira next, and one man in the Jaguares dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“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 Jaguares, and it is not being withdrawn.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Cristian Álvarez scored, was marked 7.64, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Sergio Arias could afford to be generous.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
6 goals in one match, Roberto Riascos on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Jaguares and Aguilas Doradas.
Duván Riascos and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Diego Martínez'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.
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Santiago Cubides will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Jaguares the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Santiago Cubides 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.
0‑2 to America de Cali, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Sergio Arias left the room before anybody could ask which.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Jaguares are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
In brief
The dugoutYairo Moreno is still being punished for one mistake
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.
Two goals and a mark of 7.87 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Duván Riascos is living that version at Jaguares, and it tends to show in the first month.
Duván Riascos 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Cristian Álvarez. 2‑0 against Once Caldas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Javier Sinisterra has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Wilmar Uribe is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jesus Muriel is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Pablo Lemos 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.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.98, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Marked 8.23 — 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.
Level with 88 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Jaguares had all but put away. Santa Fe will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Jaguares are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
24 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jaguares this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.