98 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.
“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.
The name of Jesus Rangel has come up in conversations La Equidad were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hector Cuadrado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Mateo Torres is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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
The dugoutGustavo Duque is still being punished for one mistake
BoardroomOpen for business: La Equidad enter the window
The words a physio says slowly. 58 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Edwin Mejia 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. Andres Medina wants continental football; whether La Equidad can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Pablo Cardona 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 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 Mejia is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Edwin Mejia signs something — a contract at La Equidad or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Zapata was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad16 Nov 2026
9 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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Andres Medina has his answer from La Equidad; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
He 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.
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.
Edwin Mejia 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Antonio Paulides has just signed for La Equidad, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo Cardona 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.
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.
“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.
The medical room confirms 25 days on the sidelines for Daniel Quiñónes, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hector Cuadrado 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.
“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.
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around La Equidad are no longer polite ones.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hector Cuadrado 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Brian Moreno after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer 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 Diego Mejia is on it.
Successful dribbles: 12. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what La Equidad can pretend not to have heard.
0‑1 to Atletico Nacional, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo Cardona 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.” Cristian Hernandez and La Equidad agree another 4 years.
Squad19 Oct 2026
14 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.
Brian Rodriguez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Diego Mejia commits to La Equidad for another 4 years.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hector Cuadrado 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Gustavo Duque is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“It 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Róbinson García’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and La Equidad needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Junior go through and La Equidad go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Brian Rodriguez, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.11
A mark of 8.11 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Brian Rodriguez has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Edwin Mejia has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Edwin Mejia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Juan Zapata 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. Cristian Lora 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.
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.
“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 dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Brian Moreno was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the La Equidad dressing room was either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at La Equidad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
11 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Brian Moreno could afford to be generous.
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 Sergio Román is on it.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Carlos Ordóñez has, at La Equidad, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Zapata was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Tigres will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Ricardo Rosales 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mateo Torres. 1‑0 against Patriotas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Brian Moreno on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Zapata was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Brian Rodriguez is the division's best young player this month
At 19 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. La Equidad will try very hard not to make too much of it.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Pablo Cardona has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
He is 20, and nobody at La Equidad signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
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.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Gustavo Duque is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
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 Róbinson García.
A 1‑0 win over Independiente Medellin, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Brian Rodriguez, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.24
A mark of 8.24 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
A 3‑2 win over Aguilas Doradas, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hector Cuadrado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Real Santander will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Johao Camacho 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.
Brian Rodriguez 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Cádiz waiting with a shirt. Nobody at La Equidad is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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 Aug 2026
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Zapata 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 here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Brian Moreno left the room before anybody could ask which.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Diego Mejia had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A brace, and Yerry Cordoba takes the afternoon — 8.40
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Yerry Cordoba provided it, and the 8.40 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Edwin Mejia 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 Juan Zapata was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Carlos Ospina 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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Yerry Cordoba in the middle of it, and Jaguares unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Oscar Martinez had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A brace, and Edwin Mejia takes the afternoon — 8.65
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Edwin Mejia provided it, and the 8.65 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at La Equidad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hector Cuadrado 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.
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.
Edwin Mejia 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Zapata was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Edwin Mejia trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Brian Moreno was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the La Equidad dressing room was either.