41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Toluca lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑0 against Cruz Azul, and it could have been more.
Player ratings1 Sep 2036
A brace, and Lamine Sadio takes the afternoon — 8.34
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lamine Sadio provided it, and the 8.34 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
522 appearances across 12 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Toluca know what they have.
Boardroom1 Sep 2036
Deadline passes with 27 signed and 24 gone
That is the business done at Toluca 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.
The deal with Monterrey is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.62, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Ali Donny Sylla 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.
48 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Toluca lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Toluca have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Toluca they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Jonathan Gallardo has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Ali Donny Sylla 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 Lamine Sadio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
76 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Toluca lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Toluca people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 Toluca, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Toluca they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ali Donny Sylla 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.
Jonathan Pérez has left for Tigres in a $740.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad28 Jul 2036
Words at Toluca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lamine Sadio 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 words a physio says slowly. 132 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.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
“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 Toluca, and it is not being withdrawn.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Toluca had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Toluca this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about César Bustos again, and this time the name on the line is Monterrey. Toluca are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
Abdoulie Manneh 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Guillermo Rodriguez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Toluca the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Pachuca 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 Abdoulie Manneh is on it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Toluca has been clear about where Erick Aguilar stands, which is more than many ever get.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Luca Franco trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Toluca this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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; Toluca are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad5 May 2036
Lamine Sadio 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Toluca can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Nobody at Toluca 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Toluca, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Emilio Herrera will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Toluca the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad14 Apr 2036
Words at Toluca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lamine Sadio 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.
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 Jonathan Pérez is on it.
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.
There were 89 minutes on the clock and Veracruz had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Toluca did not stop to explain themselves.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Toluca have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.07 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Toluca this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Marked 8.15 — 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Toluca they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Toluca pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Squad17 Mar 2036
Words at Toluca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Gallardo 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.
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 dugout17 Mar 2036
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.” Interim Coach, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Jorge Berlanga scored, was marked 7.69, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Abdoulie Manneh 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.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Match23 Feb 2036
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Toluca. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Toluca people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 Toluca, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Jonathan Gallardo is living that version at Toluca, and it tends to show in the first month.
Abdoulie Manneh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Jan 2036
Eliás Montiel 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Queretaro have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Sergio Garcia has, at Queretaro, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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.
The offer went to Veracruz this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
“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 Queretaro hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The shirt still fits. Sergio Garcia is back at Queretaro, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Puebla will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. David Shrem has pre-agreed a move to Queretaro, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Santos Laguna have kept their man, and Queretaro go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
“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.
“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; Queretaro are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Queretaro have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad4 Jun 2035
Words at Queretaro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jesse van de Haar 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.
Queretaro asked and Pachuca 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Jonathan Gallardo has his answer from Queretaro; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“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 Cruz Azul, and it is not being withdrawn.
Jérémy Sebas 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 May 2035
Words at Cruz Azul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Natan Acosta 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“I will play as long as the body lets me and stop the day it does not.” He is 33, with 200 appearances behind him, and the club has to plan for a decision that is not yet made.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Mario Galeano 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Queretaro know it.
Squad30 Apr 2035
Words at Queretaro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ángel Azuaje 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.
“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.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Mario Galeano has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Queretaro have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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.
Mario Galeano 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Queretaro can tell you which week it ends in.
Queretaro asked and Alianza Lima 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 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Germán Padilla has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Queretaro have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
The dugout9 Oct 2034
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.