Marked for Fernando Pineda
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
Gabriel Martin damages knee ligaments — 28 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 23 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
Angel Sanchez wants to know where this is going
“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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Veracruz
Roberto Ramirez 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Leonel Müller 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 dugout12 Oct 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
At 38, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
Market12 Oct 2026
At 37, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
Market12 Oct 2026
Experience through the door at Veracruz
Miguel Aguilar arrives at 33 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Sep 2026
8 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
“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.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Leonel Müller 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.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Sebastian Moreno 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Hector Ochoa and Veracruz agree another 3 years.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout14 Sep 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.” Andres Guardado chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
6 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Aug 2026
Veracruz through in the cup
A 2‑1 win over Chiapas, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Fernando Pineda at 17 — 7.80
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Fernando Pineda did not need any: 7.80, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The offer went to Leon 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Veracruz asked and Santos Laguna said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $2.5M — a club that wants Valentín Gauthier enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Ivan Herrera 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.