“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Queretaro, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Queretaro is running low.
Everything was agreed with Club America and then the doctor spoke. Queretaro have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
Queretaro asked and Atlas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Santiago Homenchenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Queretaro will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Queretaro, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
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.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Queretaro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francisco Venegas 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.
“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.
Squad8 May 2028
A place in the month's best eleven for Diego Reyes
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Diego Reyes has come out of that comparison in the side, and Queretaro have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Queretaro, another week without a signature from José Hernández.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Queretaro can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Queretaro have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Diego 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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Queretaro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Waldo Madrid 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.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lucas Abascia trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Queretaro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Waldo Madrid 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Chiapas defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Queretaro can pretend not to have heard.
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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Waldo Madrid was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Kevin Vega chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
Diego 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.
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.
“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.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Kevin Vega to a room that had heard them before.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Luis Ernesto Ruiz’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Queretaro needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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.
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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Guillermo Allison, and the manager let it.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Queretaro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Waldo Madrid 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.
Half the programme played, position 13, 16 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
“I watch every Queretaro game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Pachuca runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
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.
Position 16 and 6 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Francisco Venegas 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.
Tijuana made Queretaro work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Waldo Madrid 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Kevin Vega could afford to be generous.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cruz Azul can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cruz Azul have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Cruz Azul have 4 straight wins of it.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Cruz Azul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erik Lira 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.
Marked 7.84 on 13 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Something was said to José Paradela and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Words at Cruz Azul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrés Gudiño 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.
Ariel Castro 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jeremy Márquez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutCristian Jiménez is still being punished for one mistake
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cruz Azul have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Cruz Azul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erik Lira 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.
Cruz Azul asked and Santos Laguna said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Samuel Cotto 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.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
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 Andrés Gudiño is on it.
36 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Cruz Azul can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Atlas for Nicolás Ibáñez 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.
“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.
At 22 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrés Gudiño was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Cruz Azul are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
At 21 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrés Gudiño was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Jeremy Márquez 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.
Marked 7.31 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
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.