Marked for Mathías Alessandro
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Jul 2029
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Queretaro lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market16 Jul 2029
Only the photograph left for Edison Gruezo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Edison Gruezo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Queretaro the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market16 Jul 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.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
Everything agreed with Morelia, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Market16 Jul 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Tondela keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad16 Jul 2029
The step up is real for Alex Alcalá
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Diego Reyes in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Queretaro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market16 Jul 2029
Dylan Guajardo has left for Pumas UNAM in a $530.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market2 Jul 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.
The dugout2 Jul 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad2 Jul 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Diego Reyes commits to Queretaro for another 2 years.
Squad2 Jul 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 Queretaro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Rubén Segura is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad2 Jul 2029
At 24 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
The dugout2 Jul 2029
The manager makes an example of Lucas Abascia
“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.
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
Intake day at the Queretaro academy
5 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
The dugout2 Jul 2029
Edison Gruezo 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 Queretaro, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Apr 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Queretaro will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market9 Apr 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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Diego Reyes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Apr 2029
The medical room confirms 30 days on the sidelines for Sebastián Hernández, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad9 Apr 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Rolando Flores commits to Queretaro for another 3 years.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
“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.
Market9 Apr 2029
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Mathías Alessandro has his answer from Queretaro; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Market9 Apr 2029
The name of Paulo Victor keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Queretaro say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
Hedgardo Marín knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hedgardo Marín trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market13 Nov 2028
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Queretaro can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad13 Nov 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Queretaro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Defences have started doubling up on Jhojan Julio
12 goals and a season average of 7.24 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Diego Reyes, and the manager let it.
Match11 Nov 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jhojan Julio. 2‑0 against Leon, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.72, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
Marked 8.49 — 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
A row about effort at Queretaro
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Abascia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match13 Nov 2028
Halfway: Queretaro sit in position 9
25 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market7 Aug 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Carlos Villanueva will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Queretaro the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market7 Aug 2028
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Transfer targets7 Aug 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Diego Reyes 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad7 Aug 2028
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Match5 Aug 2028
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout7 Aug 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lucas Abascia, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Too much change too quickly at Queretaro
7 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Jul 2028
40 days out for Eduardo Pérez after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Queretaro will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market10 Jul 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Queretaro people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market10 Jul 2028
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Enzo Giménez wants continental football; whether Queretaro can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad10 Jul 2028
At 26 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Squad10 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Queretaro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
Queretaro asked and Seattle Sounders said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Santiago Homenchenko, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 10 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at Queretaro until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at St. Louis CITY SC is saying, and nobody at Queretaro is enjoying the guessing.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Michael Carcelén 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 targets7 Feb 2028
Queretaro asked and Molde said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match5 Feb 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad7 Feb 2028
A row about effort at Queretaro
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paulo Victor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Squad7 Feb 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mathías Alessandro commits to Queretaro for another 4 years.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Market
Atlas are about to pick up the phone
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Daniel Parra