Marked for Manuel Capasso
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.86 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Duk beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Atlas may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market21 Dec 2026
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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Luís Esteves 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atlas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Dec 2026
Atlas get the job done against Dorados
A 2‑1 win over Dorados, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Aldo Rocha gets it from the manager
“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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Chances created: 13. Somebody has to open a door before anybody can walk through it, and he spent the afternoon opening doors.
In brief
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Squad
5 new faces, and Atlas are still learning each other
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The dugout
A satisfied Kevin Vega
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The dugout
A promise honoured at Atlas
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Dec 2026
A hiding for Atlas
Beaten 0‑3 by Guadalajara, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Atlas
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jorge Sánchez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Atlas
Manuel Capasso and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Luís Esteves gets it from the manager
“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.
Boardroom14 Dec 2026
Doors closed at Atlas
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Kevin Vega after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Pedro Santos commits to Atlas for another 3 years.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Squad14 Dec 2026
One booking too many, and a game watched from the stand. Atlas lose him for the most avoidable reason in the sport.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atlas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Atlas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorge Sánchez 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
Atlas get the job done against Morelia
A 1‑0 win over Morelia, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Víctor Ríos beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Duk takes the honours
Marked 7.96 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Atlas had the best player on the pitch.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 16, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“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 dugout16 Nov 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Kevin Vega could afford to be generous.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Nov 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Atlas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match28 Oct 2026
The small margins put Atlas out
Out, 2‑3 to Cruz Azul, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Match31 Oct 2026
Duk leads the rout of Puebla
3‑0, and Duk took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Atlas tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Duk scores twice — 9.57
Two goals and a mark of 9.57 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match31 Oct 2026
It had gone 8 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Market2 Nov 2026
Jorge Sánchez wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Atlas hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Atlas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorge Sánchez 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Atlas
Manuel Capasso 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 22 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match24 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Atlas's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Atlas has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Jorge Sánchez 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atlas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market26 Oct 2026
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.
Match24 Oct 2026
A point taken on 88 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Duk rescues a point for Atlas
It needed Duk to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Tijuana, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Kevin Vega: “We have to be better”
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Atlas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A brace, and Florián Monzón takes the afternoon — 8.68
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Florián Monzón provided it, and the 8.68 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Atlas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Sep 2026
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jorge Sánchez, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 2‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Market21 Sep 2026
Adrián Mora told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Adrián Mora has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Atlas.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
75 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Luís Esteves 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Atlas
Manuel Capasso 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
13 new faces, and Atlas are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.54 on the card, and the Atlas support went home talking about one name.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“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 Sep 2026
Kevin Vega: “We have to be better”
“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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Santos Laguna will be the happier side with the point.
Looking ahead14 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Jorge Sánchez’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Atlas needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Sep 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Atlas close the window on a squad of their own making
17 in and 4 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Santos Laguna keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Luís Esteves 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Three points for Atlas, 3‑1 the final word against Veracruz in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Atlas
Manuel Capasso 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Duk at his very best
Marked 8.58. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Atlas.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Atlas will try again when the window opens; Veracruz may not be selling by then.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Aug 2026
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Atlas
Camilo Vargas 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Atlas
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luís Esteves was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
16 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Camilo Vargas has had enough of the noise
The ambition story running backwards, and the one nobody tells: a footballer who wants a smaller ground, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is rarely reported as anything else.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Kevin Vega after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
14 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Gaddi Aguirre has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Atlas.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
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.