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.
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.
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 Luis Malagón is on it.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alan Cervantes will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Club America the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Carlos Álvarez 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 21 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Club America can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Club America training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexis Gutiérrez 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.
“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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Kevin Álvarez
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Kevin Álvarez has come out of that comparison in the side, and Club America have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
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.
César Garza 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Kléber Carranza has his answer from Pumas UNAM; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sebastián Córdova signs something — a contract at Pumas UNAM or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Pumas UNAM 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.
There are goals, and then there are goals against that particular opponent. The Club America support have their bragging rights for a year and they know exactly whose name is on them.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexis Gutiérrez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Club America game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Pumas UNAM runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Oribe Gutierrez, on a 4‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutLuis Malagón has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutFernando Tapia asks for a word with the manager
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pumas UNAM can pretend not to have heard.
“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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Pumas UNAM close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Pumas UNAM heard it as anything else.
Everything agreed with Club America, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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.
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.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Club America scored in the 93th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
“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 Club America, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
At 20 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Getting past Luis Malagón has become the hardest job in the division
14 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
The phone has started ringing about Fernando Tapia again, and this time the name on the line is Santa Fe. Club America are listening politely and promising nothing.
Marked 8.18 — 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.
“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.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.