Marked for Luis Herrera
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Marked 7.92 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Joaquín Moxica: 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luis Herrera 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Angel Guardado 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Marked 6.36 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Luis Herrera
“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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Angel Guardado had Veracruz level again within 3 minutes, and Pachuca never got to play with a lead at all.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Irving Zurita commits to Veracruz for another 2 years.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Oct 2026
10 matches without a win for Veracruz
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Veracruz are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
No sign of nerves from Jeinner Fuentes at 21 — 7.72
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jeinner Fuentes did not need any: 7.72, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Veracruz
Angel Guardado and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
At 21 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luis Herrera 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
No time for Tijuana to settle
The goal that put Tijuana ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Veracruz equalised, 2 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jesús Isijara and Veracruz agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match24 Oct 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Tijuana leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Jose Ramirez was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Veracruz dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Veracruz's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Veracruz has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A one-man rearguard from Luis Herrera
There were 8 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Luis Herrera 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Manuel Gallardo, and the manager let it.
Match17 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
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.” Jose Ramirez chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Alexis Marquez dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Oct 2026
A one-man rearguard from Luis Herrera
There were 13 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Veracruz
8 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Veracruz leaking at the back
7 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Veracruz
Angel Guardado 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
3 matches without a goal for Veracruz
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.
Match3 Oct 2026
0‑2 to Monterrey, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Veracruz
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luis Herrera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Luis Herrera is no longer first choice
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Luis Herrera has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑3 by Pumas UNAM, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Veracruz's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Veracruz has to find a result from somewhere.
Match26 Sep 2026
Veracruz leaking at the back
6 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Joaquín Moxica is a better footballer than he was
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Luis Herrera 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Veracruz
Angel Guardado and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“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.
Boardroom28 Sep 2026
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match19 Sep 2026
0‑3 to Tigres, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Match19 Sep 2026
6 matches without a win for Veracruz
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Veracruz are no longer polite ones.
Match19 Sep 2026
Veracruz are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad21 Sep 2026
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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Romario Hernández, and the manager let it.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
Nobody left the Veracruz dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Market21 Sep 2026
Veracruz have made Luis Herrera available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 7.88 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Match12 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Veracruz's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Veracruz has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Eduardo Armenta arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Eduardo Armenta has, at Veracruz, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Veracruz ran out of time with Santos Laguna. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luis Herrera 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Angel Guardado 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Veracruz are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match12 Sep 2026
Atlas left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Luis Herrera
“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.
In brief
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Match
Veracruz hit back inside 1 minutes
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Squad
The formation has left Eduardo Armenta behind
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
CSKA Moscow wanted more than $10.1M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Market7 Sep 2026
Veracruz say no — this time
The offer from Pescara for Santiago Salcedo 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The deal with Santos Laguna 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Veracruz close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 8 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Rosario Central is saying, and nobody at Veracruz is enjoying the guessing.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The window shuts on the Luis Vega deal
Veracruz ran out of time with Santos Laguna. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luis Herrera 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Veracruz
Alexis Marquez 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
Monterrey arrived with $2.1M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
Squad31 Aug 2026
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.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
$10.1M on the table at CSKA Moscow. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Market31 Aug 2026
Veracruz say no — this time
The offer from Monterrey for Angel Guardado 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Angel Guardado, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.92
A mark of 7.92 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
Guillermo Gallardo has gone, the accounts have $2.1M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The deal with Pumas UNAM 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match22 Aug 2026
Nowhere to hide for Veracruz
0‑4 against Club America, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match19 Aug 2026
The small margins put Veracruz out
Out, 2‑3 to Chiapas, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Market24 Aug 2026
Veracruz say no — this time
The offer from Monterrey for Luis Guardado 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Angel Guardado at 21 — 7.73
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Angel Guardado did not need any: 7.73, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
The stands have turned
“Enough is enough. We have watched this for months.” 5 of the 21 senior players walked off to it, and the message was not aimed at any one of them.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market24 Aug 2026
Business is business: Juan Herrera goes
Guadalajara paid $2.2M and Veracruz took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The deal with Rosario Central 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market17 Aug 2026
Carlos Rodriguez has left for Málaga in a $18.3M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Market17 Aug 2026
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Market17 Aug 2026
Veracruz say no — this time
The offer from Pachuca for Jonathan Corona 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Universitario Popayan, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Veracruz
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luis Herrera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Angel Guardado 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad3 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market3 Aug 2026
Veracruz say no — this time
The offer from Athletic Bilbao for Carlos Rodriguez 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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A brace, and Juan Herrera takes the afternoon — 8.91
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Juan Herrera provided it, and the 8.91 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
0 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.36 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
Market3 Aug 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Veracruz heard it as anything else.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Veracruz
Carlos Rodriguez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Veracruz have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Veracruz
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luis Herrera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
At 22 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.