Marked for Jonathan Vaal
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match29 Aug 2026
Whatever happens, Dorados do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad31 Aug 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 Dorados this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.68, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jonathan Vaal, and the manager let it.
Match29 Aug 2026
It needed Salvador Manríquez to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Tigres, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad31 Aug 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Dorados have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Squad31 Aug 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Dorados have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Aug 2026
Dorados through in the cup
A 1‑0 win over Morelia, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A one-man rearguard from José Eulogio
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.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Dorados can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 24 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad24 Aug 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 Dorados this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.40 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to César Castillo, and the manager let it.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match22 Aug 2026
Dorados and Atlas take a point apiece
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Aug 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
The paperwork is done: José Eulogio joins from Pachuca in a deal worth $260.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Luis Arcadio García 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 ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.05 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Alfonso Sánchez
“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.
Match15 Aug 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Santos Laguna leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Market17 Aug 2026
Experience through the door at Dorados
Fabricio Pérez Espósito arrives at 33 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
Market17 Aug 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Alfonso Sánchez may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Salvador Manríquez and Dorados agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Luis Arcadio García 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 ratings10 Aug 2026
Marked 8.34 — 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.
Squad10 Aug 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Carlos Galicia’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Jonathan Vaal lets one through his hands
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Match8 Aug 2026
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market10 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Dorados, another week without a signature from Alfonso Sánchez.
In brief
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Market
Experience through the door at Dorados
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Market
Experience through the door at Dorados
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The terraces
The press have found their man in Leonardo Vargas
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Aug 2026
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Edson Gutiérrez commits to Dorados for another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 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 Dorados this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leonardo Vargas, and the manager let it.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market3 Aug 2026
“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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Leonardo Vargas’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Match1 Aug 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Market3 Aug 2026
Diego Martínez is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Dorados has been clear about where Diego Martínez stands, which is more than many ever get.