106 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Once Caldas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Once Caldas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Once Caldas know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
MatchContinental football is in reach for Once Caldas
The words a physio says slowly. 114 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Once Caldas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Once Caldas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadJohan Carbonero falls out with a teammate over standards
121 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Once Caldas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Once Caldas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Once Caldas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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 much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Once Caldas told Jefry Zapata something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.
128 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Once Caldas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Once Caldas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Andrés Colorado and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Oct 2030
Words at Once Caldas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johan Carbonero 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 Once Caldas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes Fabry Castro a promise
136 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Once Caldas 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.” Once Caldas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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 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.
35 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
144 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Once Caldas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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.
Squad14 Oct 2030
Words at Once Caldas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jáder Quiñónes 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.
151 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Once Caldas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andrés Roa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Once Caldas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jáder Quiñónes and Once Caldas agree another 4 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Once Caldas 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.
159 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Once Caldas 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.” Once Caldas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Once Caldas know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
166 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Once Caldas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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.
Squad23 Sep 2030
Words at Once Caldas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jáder Quiñónes is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Juan Esteban Gallego wants continental football; whether Once Caldas can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about 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 Kevin Londoño has written the date down.
Position 5 on 35 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
114 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Once Caldas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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.
Squad16 Sep 2030
Words at Once Caldas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johan Carbonero is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He 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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Once Caldas that is a harder question to answer.
121 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Once Caldas 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 Once Caldas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Juan Pablo Nieto and Once Caldas agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Andrés Colorado was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The words a physio says slowly. 129 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Once Caldas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Juan Pablo Nieto and Once Caldas agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Juan Pablo Nieto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Sep 2030
Words at Once Caldas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jáder Quiñónes 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Once Caldas know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Once Caldas has been clear about where Kevin Villada stands, which is more than many ever get.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Once Caldas. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Juan Esteban Gallego trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
138 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Once Caldas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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.
Squad26 Aug 2030
Words at Once Caldas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johan Carbonero 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.
Position 5 on 35 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
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.
In brief
The dugoutKevin Villada asks for a word with the manager
The words a physio says slowly. 145 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.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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 Johan Carbonero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Once Caldas 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 Once Caldas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Once Caldas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jefferson Garcia and Once Caldas agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
33 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Once Caldas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Juan Pablo Nieto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Aug 2030
Words at Once Caldas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johan Carbonero is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Once Caldas, and 2 appearances in 8 say he has earned the hearing.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Once Caldas know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Once Caldas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Once Caldas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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 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.
Position 5 on 35 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
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.
Once Caldas spent the window trying to move Geovan Montes on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Once Caldas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Once Caldas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Once Caldas have gone to America de Cali with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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 Jáder Quiñónes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Once Caldas can give him that is a question about the club, not about 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 Kevin Londoño has written the date down.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Juan Esteban Gallego trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
59 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Once Caldas 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 Once Caldas can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Once Caldas 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 Once Caldas 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.
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 Juan Sebastián Arias has written the date down.
68 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Once Caldas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Once Caldas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. America de Cali have kept their man, and Once Caldas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Once Caldas know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The words a physio says slowly. 76 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Barranquilla waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Once Caldas is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Once Caldas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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 Jáder Quiñónes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
Something was said to Johan Carbonero and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The words a physio says slowly. 83 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Position 5 on 35 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Once Caldas can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Once Caldas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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 Johan Carbonero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Add another name to the list: Depor have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Luther Rueda. The answer from Once Caldas has not changed — yet.
91 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Once Caldas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andrés Roa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Once Caldas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Once Caldas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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.
101 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Once Caldas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Once Caldas can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Once Caldas people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: America de Cali keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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 asked and Cortulua said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
“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 Once Caldas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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 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.
Juan Pablo Nieto was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Once Caldas told Juan Pablo Nieto something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“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 dugout27 May 2030
Somebody else is better right now than Kevin Londoño
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.
Position 2, 31 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Player ratings20 May 2030
A brace, and Jefry Zapata takes the afternoon — 8.57
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jefry Zapata provided it, and the 8.57 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Once Caldas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Once Caldas did not have in the autumn.
Squad20 May 2030
Words at Once Caldas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jáder Quiñónes 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. Juan Sebastián Arias 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 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.
“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 Once Caldas, and it is not being withdrawn.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Johan Restrepo 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. Sebastian Valencia has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. David Muriel 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.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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 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.
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings29 Apr 2030
A brace, and Jefry Zapata takes the afternoon — 9.41
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jefry Zapata provided it, and the 9.41 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
7.83, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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 Apr 2030
Words at Once Caldas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jáder Quiñónes 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.
Position 2, 23 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Once Caldas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Apr 2030
Words at Once Caldas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johan Carbonero 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 easiest signature of my career.” Juan Sebastián Arias and Once Caldas agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
A 2‑0 win over Real Santander, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“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 Once Caldas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Juan Pablo Nieto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Apr 2030
Words at Once Caldas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johan Carbonero is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It needed Yeison Moreno to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Fortaleza CEIF, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout15 Apr 2030
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Simon King was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Once Caldas dressing room was either.
In brief
Looking aheadOnce Caldas take on the side everybody is chasing
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.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Once Caldas can tell you which week it ends in.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jáder Quiñónes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
19 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout8 Apr 2030
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 Simon King to a room that had heard them before.
A muscle injury sidelines Jefry Zapata for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Once Caldas will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Juan Pablo Nieto was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Once Caldas can tell you which week it ends in.
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.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Yeison Moreno is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Once Caldas told Kevin Londoño something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
A mark of 7.51, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout1 Apr 2030
Somebody else is better right now than Kevin Londoño
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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Once Caldas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Mar 2030
Words at Once Caldas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johan Carbonero 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.
Deportes Quindio next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. Once Caldas deserved better, and so did he.
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.
Position 2, 18 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Juan Pablo Nieto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Mar 2030
Words at Once Caldas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jáder Quiñónes 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 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.
Marked 7.41. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout18 Mar 2030
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Simon King was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Once Caldas dressing room was either.
The dugout18 Mar 2030
Somebody else is better right now than Luca Andrada
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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.84 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Words at Once Caldas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johan Carbonero is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 8.46 — 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Once Caldas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Juan Pablo Nieto was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The 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.
“I have watched this squad. There is more in it than the table says.” First press conference, first promise — Simon King made the one every new manager makes, and now comes the part where it gets checked.
Out, 0‑1 to Alianza Petrolera, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.45 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.73 for the rest of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Once Caldas 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.32 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
7.68, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
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.
Juan Pablo Nieto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Words at Once Caldas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johan Carbonero is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jáder Quiñónes. 3‑1 against Barranquilla, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Jeinner Fuentes has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Once Caldas have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
A brace, and Jefry Zapata takes the afternoon — 9.16
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jefry Zapata provided it, and the 9.16 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.62 for the rest of it.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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.
6 goals in one match, Jefry Zapata on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Once Caldas and Valledupar.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Johan Carbonero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Once Caldas 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 Once Caldas people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Going 2 down does something to a side, and what it usually does is finish them. Not here. Once Caldas rebuilt the afternoon goal by goal, and Real Santander had no answer to any of it.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Irtysh had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Juan Pablo Nieto and Once Caldas agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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.
38 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
8 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
The phone has started ringing about Luther Rueda again, and this time the name on the line is Irtysh. Once Caldas are listening politely and promising nothing.
A point taken on 87 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The words a physio says slowly. 19 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
There is nobody left to promote and nobody left to run a session. The board have brought in a name the supporters do not know, and the question of how a club gets here will outlast whoever answers it.
“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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Once Caldas 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 Johan Carbonero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Once Caldas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The words a physio says slowly. 27 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Domingo Ortíz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Once Caldas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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 James Aguirre was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Juan Esteban Gallego wants continental football; whether Once Caldas can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Once Caldas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The arithmetic ran out, and everybody could see it coming from a distance. The hard summer starts now, and next season's fixtures will be full of unfamiliar names.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Once Caldas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom7 Jan 2030
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Once Caldas
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Once Caldas and Jaguares have settled on $1.5M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 57 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The words a physio says slowly. 41 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The deal with Tigres 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.
Juan Pablo Nieto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Dec 2029
James Aguirre 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. Leixões have kept their man, and Once Caldas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 66 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
48 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Once Caldas 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 Once Caldas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Dec 2029
James Aguirre 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 asked and Independiente Medellin said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Once Caldas have made the call to Leixões. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Once Caldas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The words a physio says slowly. 55 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“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 Once Caldas, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Once Caldas have done the hard part with Deportivo Pereira, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Once Caldas asked and Jaguares said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Domingo Ortíz has agreed terms with Deportivo Pereira for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Once Caldas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Juan Pablo Nieto was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Once Caldas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
63 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Once Caldas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Deportes Tolima have kept their man, and Once Caldas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Juan Pablo Nieto and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Words at Once Caldas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jáder Quiñónes 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.
Once Caldas have made the call to Club America. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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.
70 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Once Caldas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Once Caldas interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Interim Coach keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Once Caldas can pretend not to have heard.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Newell's Old Boys have kept their man, and Once Caldas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Once Caldas have made the call to Santa Fe. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Once Caldas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
78 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Once Caldas 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 Once Caldas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Nov 2029
James Aguirre falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Once Caldas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The words a physio says slowly. 87 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.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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 James Aguirre was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
5 goals in 27 games at Gimnasia La Plata — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Once Caldas updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes Nicolás Soto a promise
The mood at Once Caldas has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Once Caldas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
95 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Once Caldas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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 James Aguirre was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
11 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Once Caldas. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Interim Coach clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Once Caldas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
103 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Once Caldas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Position 20 and 17 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Not an interim appointment — an institution with an empty coaching office. Somebody unfamiliar will run the sessions this week, and the question of how a club gets into this state is one the board will be asked and will not answer.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
The words a physio says slowly. 110 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.
Boardroom29 Oct 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Once Caldas
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.” Once Caldas 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 Once Caldas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Words at Once Caldas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jáder Quiñónes 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. 119 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.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Words at Once Caldas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. James Aguirre is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Once Caldas told Juan Pablo Nieto something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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.
Squad15 Oct 2029
James Aguirre 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 table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at Once Caldas says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Once Caldas would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Position 20 and 17 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Position 20 on 17 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jáder Quiñónes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
36 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.
Boardroom1 Oct 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Once Caldas
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Once Caldas 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 Once Caldas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Oct 2029
James Aguirre 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 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 dugout1 Oct 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. James Aguirre is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Words at Once Caldas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. James Aguirre 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 these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Andrés Colorado's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“The 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.
34 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Words at Once Caldas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jáder Quiñónes 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.” Interim Coach after 1‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Position 20 and 16 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Juan Pablo Nieto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words at Once Caldas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. James Aguirre 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.
Minute 87, against Millonarios, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
In brief
Looking aheadA test against the best for Once Caldas
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 13 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Once Caldas is running low.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and James Aguirre was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Léyder Morán 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.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
12 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Once Caldas can tell you which week it ends in.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Successful dribbles: 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.
“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.
Nobody at Once Caldas is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
30 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 terraces20 Aug 2029
The mood at Once Caldas has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
11 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Once Caldas can tell you which week it ends in.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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 James Aguirre was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Once Caldas told Kevin Londoño something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
Player ratingsJefry Zapata beats them one at a time
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.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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
James Aguirre 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Once Caldas pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
28 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.
Once Caldas interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Interim Coach keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
9 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Once Caldas 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 Once Caldas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Mathías Silvera has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Once Caldas have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 8 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Juan Pablo Nieto was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Once Caldas will try again when the window opens; Santa Fe may not be selling by then.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Once Caldas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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.
The bid was some way short and Once Caldas did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom23 Jul 2029
Once Caldas close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 3 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The deal with Santa Fe 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.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Words at Once Caldas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrés Colorado 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.
Position 19 and 13 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Once Caldas can tell you which week it ends in.
Juan Pablo Nieto and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Words at Once Caldas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jáder Quiñónes 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.
Once Caldas asked and Leixões said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 Jul 2029
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
In brief
Player ratingsKevin Londoño beats them one at a time
Cortulua have accepted the money. What Once Caldas do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Once Caldas asked and Deportes Tolima said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Once Caldas can tell you which week it ends in.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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 easiest signature of my career.” Juan Pablo Nieto and Once Caldas agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Once Caldas 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 Andrés Colorado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Day 8 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
23 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 end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Interim Coach clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
Not an interim appointment — an institution with an empty coaching office. Somebody unfamiliar will run the sessions this week, and the question of how a club gets into this state is one the board will be asked and will not answer.
Transfer targets2 Jul 2029
$1.5M settles it between the clubs for Fabian Ospina
Jaguares have accepted the money. What Once Caldas do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.
The deal that would have taken Felipe Cifuentes to Patriotas has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Once Caldas with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Juan Pablo Nieto and Once Caldas agree another 2 years.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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 Once Caldas can tell you which week it ends in.
In brief
SquadErick Zapata arrives at the club he grew up with
22 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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 offer from Atletico Bucaramanga for Felipe Cifuentes 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. Once Caldas have done the hard part with Independiente Medellin, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Words at Once Caldas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jáder Quiñónes 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. 23 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Once Caldas can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Once Caldas have done the hard part with Deportes Quindio, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrés Colorado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Once Caldas asked and Deportes Quindio said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Once Caldas have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Once Caldas asked and Deportes Tolima said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Once Caldas 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.
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.
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Once Caldas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Once Caldas is running low.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
“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 Once Caldas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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 Jáder Quiñónes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 47 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
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.
16 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
17 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.
55 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Once Caldas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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 Andrés Colorado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
62 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Once Caldas 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 Once Caldas 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 Jáder Quiñónes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 dugout14 May 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Once Caldas dressing room was either.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 69 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Once Caldas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 77 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Once Caldas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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 dugout30 Apr 2029
Jefry Zapata 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.
84 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Once Caldas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Position 19 and 7 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Once Caldas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
7.59, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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 Jáder Quiñónes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Juan Esteban Gallego wants continental football; whether Once Caldas can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Yeison Moreno's mistake
91 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Once Caldas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Once Caldas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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.” Interim Coach after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
98 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Once Caldas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Once Caldas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Once Caldas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Words at Once Caldas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrés Colorado 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“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.
105 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Once Caldas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The terraces2 Apr 2029
The mood at Once Caldas has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Once Caldas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Two goals and a mark of 8.51 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
1 for Andrés Colorado, marked 7.96, 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.
113 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Once Caldas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
9 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Once Caldas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Once Caldas 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 Jáder Quiñónes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Once Caldas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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 James Aguirre was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Once Caldas can tell you which week it ends in.
90 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Once Caldas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Once Caldas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Once Caldas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words at Once Caldas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. James Aguirre is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
97 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Once Caldas 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. 81 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 89 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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 Jáder Quiñónes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Juan Esteban Gallego and Once Caldas agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It needed Yeison Moreno to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Independiente Medellin, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
0‑4 to Atletico Nacional, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 96 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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 Jáder Quiñónes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Once Caldas can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Once Caldas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Once Caldas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Words at Once Caldas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jáder Quiñónes 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 dugout12 Feb 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Once Caldas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Juan Felipe Castaño and Once Caldas agree another 3 years.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words at Once Caldas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrés Colorado 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.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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.
Squad29 Jan 2029
James Aguirre 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.
Add another name to the list: Nea Salamis have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Luther Rueda. The answer from Once Caldas has not changed — yet.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jefry Zapata. 1‑0 against Deportes Quindio, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Felipe Cifuentes has his answer from Once Caldas; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.19 for the rest of it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Once Caldas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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.
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.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words at Once Caldas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jáder Quiñónes 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Edwin Arias is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Santiago Caicedo is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Once Caldas 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 James Aguirre 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 Jáder Quiñónes trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Once Caldas will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Once Caldas spent a month trying to move him and nobody rang back. He trains with a squad that has told him where he stands, and both sides start counting down to the next one.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Juan Camilo Arturo may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
$290.0K was the most the club would pay and Union Magdalena were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Juan Chavira has just signed for Once Caldas, and for once the answer mattered.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jáder Quiñónes trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Dealt with internally, which is the phrase a club uses when it would rather nobody asked twice. He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday.
The offer went to Union Magdalena this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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.
Squad1 Jan 2029
James Aguirre 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 asked and Botafogo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Raised voices on the training ground at Once Caldas
It involved Michael Barrios, it was loud enough to reach the car park, and it was over by lunch. Dressing rooms run hot; the ones that should worry you are the silent ones.
$6.7M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
He is going to Santa Fe, the club has $6.7M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Once Caldas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Juan Pablo Nieto 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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at Once Caldas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. James Aguirre 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.