Marked for Luis Blanco
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad13 Sep 2038
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alexis Herrera
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Veracruz lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match11 Sep 2038
Veracruz win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. Tigres will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Player ratings13 Sep 2038
Oribe Montes, 36, rolls back the years — 9.11
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.11 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market13 Sep 2038
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Santiago Arteaga will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Veracruz the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match11 Sep 2038
Nobody wants to play Veracruz right now
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.
Squad13 Sep 2038
Oribe Montes 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.
Player ratings13 Sep 2038
Luis Blanco was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.49. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad13 Sep 2038
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Veracruz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match11 Sep 2038
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Oribe Montes. 2‑1 against Tigres, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match4 Sep 2038
Still nobody has beaten Veracruz
The unbeaten run reaches 13. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad6 Sep 2038
A one-man rearguard from Angel Montes
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings6 Sep 2038
Age has not caught Oribe Montes yet — 9.27
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.27 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad6 Sep 2038
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Oribe Montes commits to Veracruz for another 2 years.
Match4 Sep 2038
No clean sheets in sight for Veracruz
6 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad6 Sep 2038
“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 Veracruz know it.
Squad6 Sep 2038
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oribe Montes 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.
Match4 Sep 2038
It finished 3‑2, and it was Raul Corona’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Veracruz.
The terraces6 Sep 2038
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Raul Corona has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
In brief
-
Match
Atlas blown away early
-
Player ratings
Raul Corona was on a different afternoon to everybody else
-
Player ratings
One of those days for Luis Blanco
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings18 Jan 2038
No sign of nerves from Santiago Arteaga at 20 — 9.47
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Santiago Arteaga did not need any: 9.47, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad18 Jan 2038
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings18 Jan 2038
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.01 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad18 Jan 2038
Oribe Montes 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.
Match16 Jan 2038
It finished 2‑1, and it was Santiago Arteaga’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Veracruz.
The terraces18 Jan 2038
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Santiago Arteaga has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match16 Jan 2038
Veracruz are at home on the road
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Squad18 Jan 2038
The manager makes an example of Luis Blanco
“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.
Squad18 Jan 2038
7 goals and a season average of 7.36. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Dec 2037
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Veracruz may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad21 Dec 2037
Oribe Montes 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.
Squad21 Dec 2037
Luis Blanco gets it from the manager
“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.
Match19 Dec 2037
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad21 Dec 2037
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martin Expérience 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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2037
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2037
Hirving Martin 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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2037
A brace, and Luis Blanco takes the afternoon — 9.09
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Luis Blanco provided it, and the 9.09 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings12 Oct 2037
Age has not caught Oribe Montes yet — 8.31
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.31 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad12 Oct 2037
Oribe Montes 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 Veracruz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match10 Oct 2037
Tijuana made Veracruz work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad12 Oct 2037
Martin Expérience 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.
Squad12 Oct 2037
“The easiest signature of my career.” Angel Montes and Veracruz agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings12 Oct 2037
Shots: 6. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Player ratings12 Oct 2037
Shots: 7, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
In brief
-
Boardroom
The Veracruz production line keeps running
-
The terraces
The press have found their man in Luis Blanco
-
The terraces
The stand has a song for Luis Blanco
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2037
Hirving Martin damages knee ligaments — 57 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 57 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2037
Santiago Arteaga, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.69
A mark of 7.69 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Match5 Sep 2037
5 matches without a win for Veracruz
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Veracruz are no longer polite ones.
Squad7 Sep 2037
A season average of 7.02 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Veracruz know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad7 Sep 2037
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Luis Blanco commits to Veracruz for another 3 years.
Squad7 Sep 2037
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oribe Montes 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2037
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market7 Sep 2037
The Oribe Montes talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Veracruz know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Player ratings7 Sep 2037
9 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2037
Hirving Martin damages knee ligaments — 78 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 78 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 Aug 2037
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market17 Aug 2037
Ivan Salcedo hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Veracruz can pretend not to have heard.
Market17 Aug 2037
Ivan Salcedo has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Veracruz they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad17 Aug 2037
Oribe Montes 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.
Match15 Aug 2037
Iván Martínez scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Queretaro, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad17 Aug 2037
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luis Blanco, and the manager let it.
Player ratings17 Aug 2037
Shots: 6, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Player ratings17 Aug 2037
Shots: 4, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Jan 2037
Hirving Salcedo damages knee ligaments — 71 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 71 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.
Squad5 Jan 2037
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad5 Jan 2037
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Veracruz will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Boardroom5 Jan 2037
The scrutiny sharpens at Veracruz
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Veracruz is running low.
Player ratings5 Jan 2037
No sign of nerves from Santiago Arteaga at 19 — 7.67
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Santiago Arteaga did not need any: 7.67, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad5 Jan 2037
“The easiest signature of my career.” Omar Mireles and Veracruz agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings5 Jan 2037
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.47, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The terraces5 Jan 2037
At 18 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match3 Jan 2037
Atlas made Veracruz work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad29 Dec 2036
Hirving Salcedo damages knee ligaments — 78 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 78 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.
The terraces29 Dec 2036
Anger at Veracruz spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match27 Dec 2036
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Armando González scored in the 89th minute, Santos Laguna had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Veracruz took the lot.
Player ratings29 Dec 2036
Armando González, 33, rolls back the years — 9.11
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.11 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad29 Dec 2036
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad29 Dec 2036
“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.
Squad29 Dec 2036
“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; Veracruz are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Player ratings29 Dec 2036
Luis Blanco was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.48. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Match27 Dec 2036
Three points for Veracruz, 2‑1 the final word against Santos Laguna in a contest settled by the finer margins.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 Dec 2036
Hirving Salcedo damages knee ligaments — 92 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 92 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.
Squad15 Dec 2036
A fracture rules Riquelme Avellar out for 16 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Veracruz will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad15 Dec 2036
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match13 Dec 2036
Queretaro will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Veracruz were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings15 Dec 2036
Age has not caught Oribe Montes yet — 9.77
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.77 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad15 Dec 2036
11 goals and a season average of 7.60. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings15 Dec 2036
Rodolfo Gutierrez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.43. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings15 Dec 2036
Ninety minutes of Luis Blanco at his very best
Marked 9.07. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Veracruz.
Player ratings15 Dec 2036
Shots: 9, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Dec 2036
Hirving Salcedo damages knee ligaments — 99 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 99 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.
Squad8 Dec 2036
A fracture rules Riquelme Avellar out for 23 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Veracruz will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match6 Dec 2036
5‑1, and Luis Blanco took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Veracruz tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings8 Dec 2036
Two goals and a mark of 9.48 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings8 Dec 2036
A brace, and Osvaldo Basurto takes the afternoon — 8.58
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Osvaldo Basurto provided it, and the 8.58 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings8 Dec 2036
Age has not caught Oribe Montes yet — 9.06
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.06 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad8 Dec 2036
“The easiest signature of my career.” Oribe Montes and Veracruz agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Dec 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Veracruz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match6 Dec 2036
Luis Blanco among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Luis Blanco on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Veracruz and Dorados.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Nov 2036
A fracture rules Riquelme Avellar out for 51 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Veracruz will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings10 Nov 2036
No sign of nerves from Santiago Arteaga at 18 — 8.51
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Santiago Arteaga did not need any: 8.51, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings10 Nov 2036
Armando González, 33, rolls back the years — 9.14
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.14 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad10 Nov 2036
Rodolfo Gutierrez 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.
Match8 Nov 2036
Three points for Veracruz, 3‑1 the final word against Chiapas in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad10 Nov 2036
“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.
The terraces10 Nov 2036
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Santiago Arteaga has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings10 Nov 2036
Luis Blanco was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.73. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Match8 Nov 2036
3 goals inside twenty minutes with Luis Blanco in the middle of it, and Chiapas unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Nov 2036
There were 12 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad3 Nov 2036
A fracture rules Riquelme Avellar out for 58 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Veracruz will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match1 Nov 2036
The wait goes on for Veracruz
9 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.
Match29 Oct 2036
The small margins put Veracruz out
Out, 1‑3 to Club America, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Match1 Nov 2036
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Luis Blanco will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Veracruz escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Player ratings3 Nov 2036
Oribe Montes, 35, rolls back the years — 8.04
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.04 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad3 Nov 2036
Omar Mireles 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 Veracruz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match1 Nov 2036
Veracruz leaking at the back
5 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad3 Nov 2036
Oribe Montes 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings20 Oct 2036
Two goals and a mark of 10.00 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings20 Oct 2036
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.88 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match18 Oct 2036
No end in sight to Veracruz's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Veracruz has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad20 Oct 2036
Gabriel Guardado: 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.” Veracruz have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad20 Oct 2036
Oribe Montes 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 Veracruz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match18 Oct 2036
Oribe Montes scored, and precious little else went right: 4‑5 to Puebla, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Player ratings20 Oct 2036
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 15 actions, 7.49, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Match18 Oct 2036
Oribe Montes among the goals in a wild afternoon
9 goals in one match, Oribe Montes on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Veracruz and Puebla.
Squad20 Oct 2036
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Armando González 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.