Two goals and a mark of 9.01 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pumas UNAM they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Pumas UNAM have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Silva 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: Robert Morales. 2‑0 against Morelia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Pumas UNAM game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Cruz Azul runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
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.
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Nathan Silva 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.
Hugo Rodríguez 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.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Christian Rodriguez kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Nobody at Pumas UNAM will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gerardo Serralde will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pumas UNAM the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Keylor Navas 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 Nathan Silva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A point taken on 90 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.
Nobody at Pumas UNAM will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
2 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Leon the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Pumas UNAM will enjoy reviewing.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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 Pumas UNAM, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Pumas UNAM they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Keylor Navas 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 Nathan Silva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Pumas UNAM game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Cruz Azul runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Chofis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8.22. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
17 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.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Christian Rodriguez kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Nathan Silva is on it.
In brief
Looking aheadA test against the best for Pumas UNAM
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rubén Duarte was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Nathan Silva is on it.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Christian Rodriguez was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Pumas UNAM dressing room was either.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Uriel Antuna signs something — a contract at Pumas UNAM or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
$3.8M settles it between the clubs for Fran Villalba
Santos Laguna have accepted the money. What Pumas UNAM do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. José Pachuca is living that version at Pumas UNAM, and it tends to show in the first month.
The fee is $920.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Atlas drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Manuel Sánchez has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Nathan Silva 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Pumas UNAM know it.
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.
Marked 8.04 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“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 Pumas UNAM, and it is not being withdrawn.
The chase for Héctor Holguín ended with $1.4M changing hands and Santos Laguna out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The fee is $970.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Atlas drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ramiro Árciga is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Rubén Duarte and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Robert Morales has improved at 28, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Chofis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Pumas UNAM had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Robert Morales 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastián Córdova 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.
Squad31 May 2027
5 new faces, and Pumas UNAM are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Pumas UNAM, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM 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 Rubén Duarte was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Another season, another badge, another dressing room to win over. I would like one pre-season at Pumas UNAM where somebody actually looks at me.” He belongs to Deportivo Cali until the spell ends; the argument is with the club that owns him.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Pumas UNAM told Robert Morales something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Nobody at Pumas UNAM will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Pumas UNAM than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Pumas UNAM know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Rubén Duarte 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.
Something was said to Keylor Navas and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Hugo Rodríguez is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Nathan Silva is on it.
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Pumas UNAM would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rubén Duarte 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 is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
18 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Pumas UNAM has been clear about where Rodrigo López stands, which is more than many ever get.
14 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The name of Pablo Lara has come up in conversations Pumas UNAM were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Vite was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Uriel Antuna was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.23. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Keylor Navas was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Juninho wants continental football; whether Pumas UNAM can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastián Córdova 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 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 ratings30 Nov 2026
Juninho was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.40. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Pumas UNAM can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Something was said to Keylor Navas and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Pachuca left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chofis 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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Half the programme played, position 3, 38 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
“I did not go to Leon to sit and watch. I want to come back to Pumas UNAM and fight for my place.” 4 appearances in 12 matches say the rest.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Christian Rodriguez left the room before anybody could ask which.