“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” La Equidad have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Nicolás Soto was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Murillo 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at La Equidad, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. La Equidad know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at La Equidad, another week without a signature from Carlos Gutiérrez.
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. La Equidad would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what La Equidad can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around La Equidad they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. La Equidad will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Duvan Ospina and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Diego Murillo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at La Equidad, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Carlos Gutiérrez has written the date down.
“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 La Equidad, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at La Equidad is running low.
Duvan Ospina 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 the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Daniel Ramirez wants continental football; whether La Equidad can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Diego Murillo 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at La Equidad, another week without a signature from Nicolás Soto.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Léiner Escalante is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jose Duque trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Duvan Ospina 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.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Murillo 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Victor Herrera signs something — a contract at La Equidad or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and David Contreras trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Murillo 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.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. La Equidad know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what La Equidad can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at La Equidad is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Duvan Ospina and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Diego Murillo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. La Equidad will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at La Equidad that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
In brief
The dugoutCarlos Sierra knocks on the manager's door
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 34 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all 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 La Equidad can pretend not to have heard.
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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Luis Enrique Arroyo is living that version at La Equidad, and it tends to show in the first month.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. La Equidad scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Murillo 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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
24 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” La Equidad 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 La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Murillo 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at La Equidad can tell you which week it ends in.
“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.
Squad24 Sep 2029
6 new faces, and La Equidad 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.
Successful dribbles: 29. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lucas Medina will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around La Equidad the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Murillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 dugout17 Sep 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” David Sanchez was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the La Equidad dressing room was either.
“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 La Equidad, and it is not being withdrawn.
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Duvan Ospina 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.
15 combined actions and 6.72. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Murillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
9 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
21 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.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
Successful dribbles: 48. 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.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what La Equidad can pretend not to have heard.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
Duvan Ospina 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 not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether La Equidad can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Murillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
19 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” La Equidad have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around La Equidad they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at La Equidad can tell you which week it ends in.
Nicolás Soto and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Murillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at La Equidad has been clear about where Juan Esteban Franco stands, which is more than many ever get.
In brief
The dugoutThe team sheet said everything about Nicolás Soto
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” La Equidad have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Nicolás Soto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Murillo 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.
Duvan Ospina 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.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Murillo 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.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at La Equidad, another week without a signature from Nicolás Soto.
16 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 La Equidad, and it is not being withdrawn.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Alfredo Lemos reports back to La Equidad with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Diego Murillo 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 phone has started ringing about Carlos Nemocón again, and this time the name on the line is Al-Ra'ed. La Equidad are listening politely and promising nothing.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. La Equidad will try again when the window opens; Deportes Quindio may not be selling by then.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Nicolás Soto has just signed for La Equidad, and for once the answer mattered.
Deportes Quindio have accepted the money. What La Equidad do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at La Equidad is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom23 Jul 2029
Deadline passes with 7 signed and 14 gone
That is the business done at La Equidad until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Lucas Medina 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.
Duvan Ospina and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Murillo 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Darío Rodríguez has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means La Equidad have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
1 for William Delgado, marked 7.81, 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.
Duvan Ospina and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Murillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
La Equidad asked and Pachuca said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Luis Cuadrado has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Manuel Rodriguez has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Johan Falcao is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Cristian Arias 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.
13 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.
13 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at La Equidad can tell you which week it ends in.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around La Equidad people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Al-Ra'ed for Carlos Nemocón 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. La Equidad have done the hard part with Chaves, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Duvan Ospina 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.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Diego Murillo 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 12 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at La Equidad
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at La Equidad can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“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 La Equidad, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alfredo Lemos will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around La Equidad the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. La Equidad have done the hard part with Deportivo Pasto, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Daniel Ramirez wants continental football; whether La Equidad can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
In brief
SquadWords at La Equidad training over how hard people work
11 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.
“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 La Equidad, and it is not being withdrawn.
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Duvan Ospina and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Murillo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Deportes Quindio have kept their man, and La Equidad go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Uriel Alvarez is in the works
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. La Equidad will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
10 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.
Duvan Ospina and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Murillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason La Equidad will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around La Equidad people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 9 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The clubs have shaken hands with Deportes Quindio; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“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 La Equidad, and it is not being withdrawn.
Duvan Ospina 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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Diego Murillo 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what La Equidad can pretend not to have heard.
8 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.
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at La Equidad
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” La Equidad 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 La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Diego Murillo 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason La Equidad will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
7 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at La Equidad can tell you which week it ends in.
Duvan Ospina 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.
Squad28 May 2029
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Murillo 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.
Santa Fe will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Juan Sebastián Quintero has pre-agreed a move to La Equidad, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
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.
Position 16, 15 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. La Equidad will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 14 actions, 6.83, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Squad21 May 2029
Diego Murillo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at La Equidad 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason La Equidad 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.” La Equidad have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad14 May 2029
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Murillo 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.
Daniel Ramirez 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. La Equidad will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
Duvan Ospina 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 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at La Equidad can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad7 May 2029
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Murillo 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 decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Léiner Escalante and La Equidad agree another 2 years.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason La Equidad will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Duvan Ospina 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 general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Murillo 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at La Equidad has been clear about where David Contreras stands, which is more than many ever get.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason La Equidad will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Murillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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 Diego Murillo is on it.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 90 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 La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Diego Murillo 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.
“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 dugout16 Apr 2029
Somebody else is better right now than Carlos Sierra
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 point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” David Hernandez after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Fortaleza CEIF defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason La Equidad will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Duvan Ospina 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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Diego Murillo 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.
7.92, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. La Equidad had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
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.” David Hernandez, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutVictor Herrera has become a man the manager trusts
13 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 10 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Duvan Ospina 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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Diego Murillo 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.
Once Caldas left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by David Hernandez to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody at La Equidad 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.
9 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at La Equidad can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Diego Murillo 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.
Daniel Ramirez 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” David Hernandez after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody at La Equidad 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.
8 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at La Equidad 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 La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Murillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
0‑1 to Millonarios, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by David Hernandez to a room that had heard them before.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Alfredo Lemos is on it.
7 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.
Duvan Ospina was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Murillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at La Equidad 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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
In brief
Looking aheadLa Equidad take on the side everybody is chasing
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Duvan Ospina and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Murillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Andres Rios is on it.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether La Equidad can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Murillo 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.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
“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 La Equidad, 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 La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Diego Murillo 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.
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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Juan Esteban Franco, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
Somebody else is better right now than Carlos Sierra
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.
“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.
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 Alfredo Lemos is on it.
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.
Duvan Ospina 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.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Murillo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at La Equidad has been clear about where Lucas Medina stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at La Equidad, another week without a signature from Sebastián Cuernú.
The first defeat in 9 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Llaneros; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at La Equidad has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Murillo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout5 Feb 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by David Hernandez to a room that had heard them before.
Duvan Ospina and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Diego Murillo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at La Equidad 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what La Equidad can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Diego Murillo 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.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Santiago Moreno has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Sergio Gomez 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. Leonardo Restrepo 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.
Duvan Ospina was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Murillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Boca Juniors have kept their man, and La Equidad go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and La Equidad know it.
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 Victor Herrera is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at La Equidad, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what La Equidad can pretend not to have heard.
Duvan Ospina 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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Diego Murillo 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.
La Equidad asked and Guadalajara said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at La Equidad, another week without a signature from Cristian Flórez.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. La Equidad know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Palmeiras arrived with $17.0M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. La Equidad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at La Equidad, and it is not being withdrawn.
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. La Equidad will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Kevin Barrios has gone, the accounts have $17.0M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Cristian Flórez has, at La Equidad, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Duvan Ospina and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces1 Jan 2029
La Equidad spend $220.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $220.0K for Carlos Nemocón, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. La Equidad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at La Equidad, 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 La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether La Equidad can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Barrios 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.
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. La Equidad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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. La Equidad will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
The clubs have shaken hands with Santa Fe; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“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 La Equidad, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. La Equidad have done the hard part with America de Cali, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Sebastián González has just signed for La Equidad, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Kevin Barrios 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.
Deportivo Pereira will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Luis Díaz has pre-agreed a move to La Equidad, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
La Equidad asked and Penarol said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
In brief
The dugoutKevin Barrios has become a man the manager trusts
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. La Equidad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Duvan Ospina 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.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Gabriel Cardona is a La Equidad player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Murillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. La Equidad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what La Equidad can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around La Equidad they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Barrios was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
60 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. La Equidad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Kevin Barrios falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Diego Murillo is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Carlos Sierra 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 La Equidad. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
13 graduates, from a department now rated 9 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
The words a physio says slowly. 68 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.
Duvan Ospina 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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Murillo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at La Equidad 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.
75 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. La Equidad lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around La Equidad they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Duvan Ospina and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Kevin Barrios falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and La Equidad know it.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kevin Barrios signs something — a contract at La Equidad or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Juan Rodriguez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Jhon Bello’s negotiating for him
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Duvan Ospina
The words a physio says slowly. 82 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dairon Asprilla will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around La Equidad the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Barrios was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Jimmy Martínez is living that version at La Equidad, and it tends to show in the first month.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Duvan Ospina signs something — a contract at La Equidad or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Sebastián Cuernú has written the date down.
90 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. La Equidad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. La Equidad will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 La Equidad can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Murillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Diego Murillo is on it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Gabriel Cardona has written the date down.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 26 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.” La Equidad have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Duvan Ospina 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 not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether La Equidad can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Barrios 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.
105 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. La Equidad 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. 34 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 La Equidad is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Duvan Ospina and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Barrios was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kevin Barrios signs something — a contract at La Equidad or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
113 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. La Equidad lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at La Equidad is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Bautista Lodolo has just signed for La Equidad, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Murillo 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.
Atletico Nacional will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Luis Landázuri has pre-agreed a move to La Equidad, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
The words a physio says slowly. 120 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 La Equidad 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 La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Barrios was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
127 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. La Equidad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” La Equidad have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Duvan Ospina was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Barrios was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kevin Barrios is on it.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” David Hernandez after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation La Equidad are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
137 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. La Equidad lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around La Equidad they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Duvan Ospina and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Murillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kevin Barrios. 1‑0 against Deportes Quindio, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at La Equidad pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
145 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. La Equidad lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around La Equidad they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Barrios was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and La Equidad know it.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
In brief
Player ratingsNobody on the pitch touched Andres Rios
112 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. La Equidad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ivan Luquetta will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around La Equidad the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Duvan Ospina and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Barrios 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. 121 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.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at La Equidad is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Duvan Ospina 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 not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether La Equidad can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Murillo 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.
Level with 93 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon La Equidad had all but put away. Llaneros will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
132 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. La Equidad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around La Equidad they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The first defeat in 9 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Once Caldas; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Duvan Ospina 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 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Kevin Barrios 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.
141 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. La Equidad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” PAOK had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around La Equidad they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Dairon Asprilla has agreed terms with Santa Fe for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jhusstyn Rentería is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Barrios was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.04 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at La Equidad is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Duvan Ospina and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Murillo 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 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Manuel Bravo has just signed for La Equidad, and for once the answer mattered.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Juan Pablo Otálvaro will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around La Equidad the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The shirt still fits. Manuel Bravo is back at La Equidad, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Barrios was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
12 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
Deadline passes with 2 signed and 10 gone
That is the business done at La Equidad until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Independiente Medellin keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Murillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Deportivo Pasto were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Carlos Sierra 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.
6 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.
The deal with Independiente Medellin 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Diego Murillo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Guadalajara have kept their man, and La Equidad go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 La Equidad, 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.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at La Equidad can tell you which week it ends in.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. José Moreno has, at La Equidad, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at La Equidad is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Murillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around La Equidad they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al Ahly keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Duvan Ospina 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.
4 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Murillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at La Equidad, and it is not being withdrawn.
Atletico Bucaramanga have accepted the money. What La Equidad do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. La Equidad have done the hard part with Junior, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Duvan Ospina 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 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Diego Murillo 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at La Equidad can tell you which week it ends in.
La Equidad asked and Flamengo 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 La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether La Equidad can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Murillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
La Equidad asked and FC Nordsjaelland said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
5 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at La Equidad has been clear about where Lucas Medina stands, which is more than many ever get.
In brief
The dugoutKevin Barrios has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Carlos Sierra
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. La Equidad have done the hard part with Atletico Bucaramanga, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ivan Luquetta will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around La Equidad the goodbyes have quietly begun.
La Equidad had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Molde, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Ivan Luquetta 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.
The first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Deportivo Cali; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Diego Murillo 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.
Daniel Ramirez 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.
La Equidad asked and Penarol said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” La Equidad have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what La Equidad can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around La Equidad they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Juan Pablo Otálvaro has agreed terms with Atletico Bucaramanga for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Diego Murillo 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.
Carlos Sierra 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.
Duvan Ospina 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 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at La Equidad can tell you which week it ends in.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Felipe Gómez is living that version at La Equidad, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Murillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Raylion Wilkerson is living that version at La Equidad, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Murillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Raylion Wilkerson and La Equidad agree another 4 years.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Duvan Ospina and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Murillo 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 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.
Squad15 May 2028
5 new faces, and La Equidad 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.
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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Jhon Bello has, at La Equidad, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Duvan Ospina 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.
Squad8 May 2028
Diego Murillo 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 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Juan Rodriguez has his answer from La Equidad; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Successful dribbles: 34. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match29 Apr 2028
Andres Rios wins it after the whistle should have gone
93 minutes played. Andres Rios found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Patriotas went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what La Equidad 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.” La Equidad have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Duvan Ospina 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. Francisco Duque wants continental football; whether La Equidad can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Murillo 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 version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Luis Ruíz is living that version at La Equidad, and it tends to show in the first month.
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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Murillo 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.
Daniel Ramirez 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Fredy Hinestroza has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means La Equidad have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Murillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Lucas Medina 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at La Equidad has been clear about where Diego Sánchez stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. William Delgado is living that version at La Equidad, and it tends to show in the first month.
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.
Duvan Ospina and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Murillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“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 La Equidad will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
In brief
The dugoutFranco Herrera dropped after a run of poor form
Duvan Ospina 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Diego Murillo 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.
Level with 90 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon La Equidad 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.
5 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Diego Murillo 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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Nobody at La Equidad 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.
Duvan Ospina and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Murillo 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 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.
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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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 Millonarios.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Juan Esteban Franco is living that version at La Equidad, and it tends to show in the first month.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” La Equidad have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Duvan Ospina and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Murillo 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 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Deportivo Pasto were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Jose Duque 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.
Carlos Sierra and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Murillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
7 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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
In brief
The dugoutKevin Barrios has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutCarlos Sierra knocks on the manager’s door
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Matías Escobar: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Successful dribbles: 29. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Francisco Duque wants continental football; whether La Equidad can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Diego Murillo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The words a physio says slowly. 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Sebastián Cuernú has, at La Equidad, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at La Equidad 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. Daniel Ramirez wants continental football; whether La Equidad can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Diego Murillo 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Éder Munive has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means La Equidad have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at La Equidad can tell you which week it ends in.
The words a physio says slowly. 33 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.
Duvan Ospina 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 not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether La Equidad can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Diego Murillo 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.
Jaguares will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Alejandro Restrepo has pre-agreed a move to La Equidad, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
0‑1 to Fortaleza CEIF, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by David Hernandez to a room that had heard them before.
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.
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. La Equidad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Duvan Ospina 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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Diego Murillo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at La Equidad has been clear about where Dairon Asprilla stands, which is more than many ever get.
In brief
The dugoutDiego Murillo has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Lucas Medina
The offer from PAOK for Kevin Barrios 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 La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Barrios 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 warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Francisco Duque 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 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A new deal for the man in the dugout, and the clearest thing a board can say without calling a press conference about it. Stability is cheap to promise and expensive to deliver.
Duvan Ospina and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Kevin Barrios 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.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Wilmar 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. Victor Castillo is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Leonardo Cordoba has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Santiago Herrera 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Alfredo Lemos
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around La Equidad they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Carlos Sierra was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Murillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at La Equidad has been clear about where Hugo López stands, which is more than many ever get.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and La Equidad have no good answer.
“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 La Equidad, and it is not being withdrawn.
Duvan Ospina 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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Kevin Barrios falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Charlotte Football Club have kept their man, and La Equidad go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Victor Herrera signs something — a contract at La Equidad or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The clubs have shaken hands with Junior; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The deal that would have taken Leonardo Medina to Real Santander has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to La Equidad with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Carlos Sierra 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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Kevin Barrios falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Santa Fe have kept their man, and La Equidad go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A loan enquiry to Rosario Central: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Nobody at La Equidad 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.
Everything agreed with Deportivo Pasto, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
La Equidad 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.
Duvan Ospina 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.
Leones 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Diego Murillo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Francisco Duque wants continental football; whether La Equidad can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Sebastián Alarcón is 20, and La Equidad have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
A loan enquiry to Charlotte Football Club: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Nobody at La Equidad 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.