Marked for Saúl Vallejo
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Jul 2027
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Club America lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
Luis Malagón: 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.” Club America have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market5 Jul 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Club America can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tijuana have kept their man, and Club America go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
$1.0M on the table at Santos Laguna. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Market5 Jul 2027
“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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Henry Martín 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 Club America this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Saúl Vallejo is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Víctor Dávila 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom31 May 2027
Continental nights are coming to Club America
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.
Squad31 May 2027
Henry Martín and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 May 2027
Saúl Vallejo is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Club America training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Víctor Dávila 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 dugout31 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.
The dugout31 May 2027
José Raúl Zúñiga 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Apr 2027
Henry Martín and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carlos Álvarez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch12 Apr 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Club America, and 2 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout12 Apr 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.
Market12 Apr 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Club America know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
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
Match20 Feb 2027
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Leon kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Club America will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Saúl Vallejo breaks a bone — 21 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Age has not caught Henry Martín yet — 8.04
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.04 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.79 for the rest of it.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market22 Feb 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.
Market22 Feb 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Club America is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match20 Feb 2027
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Israel 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Feb 2027
28 days out for Saúl Vallejo after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Club America will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“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.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market15 Feb 2027
Israel Reyes wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Club America hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Carlos Álvarez 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Víctor Dávila was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Erick Sánchez is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.28 with 7 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Erick Sánchez has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Club America 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.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Feb 2027
Saúl Vallejo breaks a bone — 35 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Age has not caught Henry Martín yet — 8.61
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.61 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market8 Feb 2027
Kevin Álvarez wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Club America hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Israel Reyes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carlos Álvarez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match6 Feb 2027
The run at home goes on for Club America
8 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Isaías Violante commits to Club America for another 4 years.
Match6 Feb 2027
A point taken on 87 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match30 Jan 2027
Beaten 1‑4 by Tigres, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market1 Feb 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Club America people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Saúl Vallejo out for 44 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Club America will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market1 Feb 2027
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Henry Martín, 34, rolls back the years — 8.06
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.06 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Window shuts: 0 in, 2 out at Club America
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market1 Feb 2027
Carlos Álvarez wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Club America hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Israel Reyes 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.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match23 Jan 2027
Chiapas will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Club America were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Market25 Jan 2027
The offer from Sevilla for Carlos Álvarez was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.63 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad25 Jan 2027
51 days out for Saúl Vallejo after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Club America will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match25 Jan 2027
53 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Henry Martín, 34, rolls back the years — 8.35
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.35 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad25 Jan 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 Club America this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
A performance of 8.65 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Market25 Jan 2027
The phone has started ringing about Norberto Bedolla again, and this time the name on the line is Veracruz. Club America are listening politely and promising nothing.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Club America training over how hard people work
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Looking ahead
The big one: Tigres come into view
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Player ratings
Erick Sánchez beats them one at a time
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jan 2027
58 days out for Saúl Vallejo after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Club America will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Israel 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 Club America this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Club America training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
7 goals and a season average of 7.26. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
The dugout18 Jan 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.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Market18 Jan 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Erick Sánchez’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Match16 Jan 2027
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Atlas will be the happier side with the point.