A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Veracruz will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 The request is on a desk at Veracruz, and it is not being withdrawn.
Sebastian Corona and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oribe Lainez 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Jonathan Lozano after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
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.
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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.
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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Oribe 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Jonathan Lozano on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Veracruz will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Veracruz hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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.
Kevin Escamilla 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.
21 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Jonathan Lozano to a room that had heard them before.
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.
Sebastian Corona 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Oribe 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Jonathan Lozano on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Veracruz will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oribe Lainez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Jonathan Lozano to a room that had heard them before.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Veracruz told Jero something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Veracruz will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Veracruz is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oribe Lainez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 73 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Club America go through and Veracruz go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Marco Dos Santos, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.63
A mark of 7.63 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.
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Puebla were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Sebastian Corona 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oribe Lainez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 19 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 81 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Cruz Azul kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Veracruz will be asked about the last half hour all week.
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.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oribe Lainez 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.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oribe Lainez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Veracruz can tell you which week it ends in.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Veracruz told Christian Lainez something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Veracruz, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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.
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.
At 19 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.
Marked 6.85 on 14 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oribe Lainez 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.
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. 11 actions, 6.84, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
“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.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Puebla; Veracruz go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 16 signed and 14 gone
That is the business done at Veracruz 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.
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.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $174.0K — a club that wants Fernando González enough to be asked twice.
Sebastian Corona 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.
“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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Chiapas waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Veracruz is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Add another name to the list: Real Sociedad have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Sebastian Corona. The answer from Veracruz has not changed — yet.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $174.0K — a club that wants Ángel Estrada enough to be asked twice.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Veracruz people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Sebastian Corona 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Oribe 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 91. Queretaro had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
“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 Veracruz, and it is not being withdrawn.
The name of Marco Dos Santos has come up in conversations Veracruz were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Sebastian Corona 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oribe Lainez 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.
Veracruz asked and Guadalajara said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Monterrey did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $3.5M for Roberto de la Rosa, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Veracruz may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Veracruz
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Roberto de la Rosa was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $3.5M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Jorge Hernández 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.
Veracruz asked and Tigres said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Veracruz and Monterrey have settled on $3.5M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Veracruz have done the hard part with Toluca, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Oribe 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexis Ramirez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
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.
Veracruz interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Jonathan Lozano keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Veracruz people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Birmingham for Sebastian 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.
“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.
Jorge Hernández 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oribe Lainez 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.
“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.
The fee is $880.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Queretaro drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Add another name to the list: Birmingham have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Sebastian Corona. The answer from Veracruz has not changed — yet.
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.
Hirving 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.
Veracruz asked and Tigres said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Everybody at Veracruz saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 34 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Oribe 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.
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.
$3.1M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
Veracruz have gone to Pumas UNAM with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
He is going to Monterrey, the club has $3.1M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Veracruz have done the hard part with Dorados, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Veracruz offered $1.6M; Club America said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Add another name to the list: Atlas have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Angel Lainez. The answer from Veracruz has not changed — yet.
13 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Gabriel Altamirano and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Oribe 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 end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Uriel Rodriguez clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Veracruz have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
Veracruz have gone to Club America with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
$680.0K on the table at Pumas UNAM. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“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 Veracruz hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Veracruz asked and Tigres 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 words a physio says slowly. 29 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.
“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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oribe Lainez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. Veracruz would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.
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.
36 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.
Hirving Montes 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
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oribe Lainez 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Veracruz will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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 Rodrigo López is on it.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
5 goals in 28 games at Chiapas — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Veracruz updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
43 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Veracruz lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Hirving Montes 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Romo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Veracruz can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Jero's mistake
The words a physio says slowly. 50 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.
Hirving 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oribe Lainez 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 young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Veracruz who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
59 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Veracruz lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Jesús García and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oribe Lainez 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 Veracruz, and both men came out saying it was fine.
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Veracruz would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
75 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Hirving Montes provided it, and the 8.91 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Hirving 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.
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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oribe Lainez 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Veracruz will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
100 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.
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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Oribe 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Uriel Rodriguez after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Nobody at Veracruz 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.
In brief
Player ratingsThe one thing Gabriel Romo could not do
108 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.
Hirving 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 38 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Veracruz is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
0‑1 to Pachuca, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oribe Lainez 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.
“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 dugout15 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Uriel Rodriguez to a room that had heard them before.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
123 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.
Three points for Veracruz, 1‑0 the final word against Tijuana in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Oribe 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.
“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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Veracruz, and 22 appearances in 28 say he has earned the hearing.
131 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Veracruz lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gabriel Romo. 1‑0 against Cruz Azul, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oribe Lainez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.79 on the card, and the Veracruz support went home talking about one name.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Uriel Rodriguez kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“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 dugout22 Feb 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Jesús García
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
A brace, and Gabriel Romo takes the afternoon — 8.65
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gabriel Romo provided it, and the 8.65 beside his name is if anything generous to 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 Veracruz, 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. Gabriel Altamirano is living that version at Veracruz, and it tends to show in the first month.
Hirving Montes 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 now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cruz Azul have kept their man, and Veracruz go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I watch every Veracruz game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Chiapas runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
He is 21 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.
The offer from Monterrey for Gabriel Romo 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.
“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 Veracruz, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
“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.
Veracruz had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Santos Laguna, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Gabriel Romo 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Ulises Torres 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 team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
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.
Minute 85, against Chiapas, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oribe Lainez 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout30 Nov 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.” Uriel Rodriguez chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Toluca.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Hirving Montes scored in the 86th minute, Pachuca had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Veracruz took the lot.
Jorge Hernández and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Oribe 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.
20 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“I did not go to Chiapas to sit and watch. I want to come back to Veracruz and fight for my place.” 4 appearances in 11 matches say the rest.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Uriel Rodriguez kept it short after the 3‑2 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Add another name to the list: Sporting CP have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Gerardo Romo. The answer from Veracruz has not changed — yet.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Gerardo Romo 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Gómez 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 Veracruz, and both men came out saying it was fine.