Marked for Germán González
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 May 2027
Germán González damages knee ligaments — 15 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 15 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market24 May 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 Tigres can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 May 2027
Words exchanged at Tigres
Nahuel Guzmán 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 May 2027
Words at Tigres training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jesús Angulo 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.
Market24 May 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Tigres know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout24 May 2027
Alan Franco 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 Alan Franco trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout24 May 2027
Jorge Zapata has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Tigres 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 dugout24 May 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Tigres. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Squad24 May 2027
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 May 2027
Germán González damages knee ligaments — 22 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 22 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad17 May 2027
A falling-out at Tigres
Diego Lainez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 May 2027
A row about effort at Tigres
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jesús Angulo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 May 2027
Alan Franco 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.
Market17 May 2027
The name of Fernando Montes keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Tigres say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout17 May 2027
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 Antonio De María y Campos is on it.
The dugout17 May 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Tigres. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Squad17 May 2027
Questions about César Araújo on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
The dugout17 May 2027
The manager plants his flag on Edgar López
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Edgar López’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 May 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Germán González
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tigres lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout10 May 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.
The dugout10 May 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad10 May 2027
Words exchanged at Tigres
Jesús Angulo 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Diego Lainez 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 dugout10 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Jaziel Martínez
“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.
Market10 May 2027
The Joaquim question follows Tigres around
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Joaquim’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout10 May 2027
Nobody at Tigres 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.
Market10 May 2027
Tigres have let the market know Fernando Gorriarán can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.