Marked for Jeison Ambuila
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Apr 2029
103 days out for Joaquín Mattalia after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Morelia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad23 Apr 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Morelia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Arturo Palma 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.
Squad23 Apr 2029
The medical room confirms 58 days on the sidelines for César Martínez, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Diego Gallegos is on it.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jeison Ambuila, and the manager let it.
Market23 Apr 2029
The Uziel García story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Uziel García signs something — a contract at Morelia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market23 Apr 2029
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Misael Domínguez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Mar 2029
133 days out for Joaquín Mattalia after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Morelia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad26 Mar 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Morelia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Mar 2029
A row about effort at Morelia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Arturo Palma was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Diego Gallegos is on it.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
“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 dugout26 Mar 2029
Diego Abella knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Morelia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market26 Mar 2029
The Uziel García story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Uziel García signs something — a contract at Morelia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market26 Mar 2029
Morelia have made Zahid Muñoz available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces19 Mar 2029
Supporters organise against the Morelia board
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.
Match19 Mar 2029
Morelia sink to position 16
20 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market19 Mar 2029
“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.
Market19 Mar 2029
Only the photograph left for Antonio Torres
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Antonio Torres will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Morelia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad19 Mar 2029
A falling-out at Morelia
Joaquín Mattalia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Víctor López 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.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Too much change too quickly at Morelia
6 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.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Perez wants to go home
“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 Morelia know it.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
A promise honoured at Morelia
Something was said to Diego Abella and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Jul 2028
A fracture rules Ricardo Díaz out for 55 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Morelia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market3 Jul 2028
“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.
The dugout3 Jul 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Barcelona keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Joaquín Mattalia 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.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
Morelia have gone to Santos Laguna 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.
Market3 Jul 2028
The shirt still fits. Jeison Ambuila is back at Morelia, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Isaías Sierra 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.