There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Santiago Lainez provided it, and the 8.28 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Santiago Lainez 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.
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Miguel Vázquez has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Adel Abubaker Fadaq may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
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.
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.
$23.3M 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.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Juan Gutierrez was one of the reasons people came, and $23.3M does not replace that by itself.
Eduardo Pineda 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.
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.
24 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
42 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Morelia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Morelia, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Morelia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Rafael Fernández 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Morelia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Héctor Holguín 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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Atlas? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Morelia can pretend not to have heard.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Morelia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Morelia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Édgar Guerra 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 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Morelia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The bid was some way short and Morelia did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Morelia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Héctor Holguín 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Morelia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Morelia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Juan Gutierrez 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cesar Reyes 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 a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.17, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad14 Feb 2028
9 new faces, and Veracruz are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Veracruz spent a month trying to move him and nobody rang back. He trains with a squad that has told him where he stands, and both sides start counting down to the next one.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Morelia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The 85th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Hugo Weckmann decided nobody was going anywhere. Guadalajara had no time left to answer.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Morelia 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: Hugo Weckmann. 1‑0 against Guadalajara, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
In brief
Player ratingsThe afternoon belonged to Hugo Weckmann
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Morelia can pretend not to have heard.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Zalli Abdullahi has just signed for Morelia, and for once the answer mattered.
Rafael Fernández 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Morelia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Héctor Holguín 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.
Add another name to the list: Dorados have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Manuel Lainez. The answer from Morelia has not changed — yet.
Jose Vega 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.
Pumas UNAM pay $560.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorge Dos Santos 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 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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorge Dos Santos 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 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.
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.
12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorge Dos Santos 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.
Jose Vega 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorge Dos Santos 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.
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: Santiago Lainez. 1‑0 against Cruz Azul, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.22. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Veracruz.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Cesar Ramirez is the division's best young player this month
At 20 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Veracruz will try very hard not to make too much of it.
“I watch every Veracruz game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Queretaro runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Juan Gutierrez signs something — a contract at Veracruz or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
34 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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Manuel Moreno 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.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 42 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.
Santiago Lainez 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.
4 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.
4 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.
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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Cesar Ramirez is the division's best young player this month
At 20 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Veracruz will try very hard not to make too much of it.
“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 3 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Juan Gutierrez signs something — a contract at Veracruz or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
Jose Vega 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
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorge Dos Santos 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.
21 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Santiago Lainez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.14. 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.
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.
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.
Add another name to the list: Bayern Munich have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Erick Vazquez. The answer from Veracruz has not changed — yet.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Eduardo Pineda is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Santiago Lainez 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erick Vazquez 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Veracruz has been clear about where Alan Acosta stands, which is more than many ever get.
Jose Vega 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.
In brief
SquadErick Vazquez falls out with a teammate over standards
Santiago Lainez 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erick Vazquez 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 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.
“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.
Jose Vega 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Erick Vazquez 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.
Santiago Lainez 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.
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Veracruz have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erick Vazquez 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 finished 1‑0, and it was Santiago Lainez’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Veracruz.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Santiago Lainez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.28. 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
7 new faces, and Veracruz are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Chances created: 6. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
In brief
Player ratingsJuan Gutierrez spends the afternoon fouling
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. Morelia will replay every second of the added time for a week.
The offer from Seattle Sounders for Eduardo Pineda 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.35 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Santiago Lainez 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.
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erick Vazquez 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 a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Eduardo Pineda 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Santiago Lainez provided it, and the 8.17 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
7 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.
The phone has started ringing about Eduardo Pineda again, and this time the name on the line is Seattle Sounders. Veracruz are listening politely and promising nothing.
Santiago Lainez 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erick Vazquez 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.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
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.
Juan Gutierrez 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erick Vazquez 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.
Pumas UNAM will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Miguel Paul has pre-agreed a move to Veracruz, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.