Marked for Jonathan Pérez
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout3 May 2027
Efraín Álvarez: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Guadalajara have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad3 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Guadalajara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market3 May 2027
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.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Guadalajara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Efraín Álvarez 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 dugout3 May 2027
Something was said to Fernando Gorriarán and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout3 May 2027
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.
Market3 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Brian Gutiérrez’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Loan watch3 May 2027
“Nobody here treats me like a loan player, and that is worth more than people think.” 24 appearances and 8 goals, and a summer that will decide it.
The dugout3 May 2027
Kevin Castañeda asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match6 Jan 2027
A 4‑1 win over Veracruz, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Market11 Jan 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Guadalajara have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.34 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
A brace, and Jonathan Pérez takes the afternoon — 8.16
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jonathan Pérez provided it, and the 8.16 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Guadalajara have gone to Atlético Tucumán 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
No deal for Hugo Lozano at that price
Guadalajara offered $5.4M; Veracruz said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Silvio Romero, 39, rolls back the years — 8.01
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.01 at 39, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The offer went to Monterrey 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad2 Nov 2026
4 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Match28 Oct 2026
A 5‑2 win over Queretaro, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Silvio Romero, 38, rolls back the years — 8.24
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.24 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Richard Ledezma 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.
Match28 Oct 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Guadalajara and Queretaro, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Bryan González 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 terraces2 Nov 2026
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match31 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Efraín Álvarez’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Guadalajara.
Match31 Oct 2026
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.