Marked for Ivan Gallardo
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 70. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Dec 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Arteaga 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 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Roberto Herrera and Veracruz agree another 2 years.
Match5 Dec 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Ivan Vega’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Veracruz.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
A performance of 8.11 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market30 Nov 2026
Marco Arteaga hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Veracruz can pretend not to have heard.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Guillermo Arteaga 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Ivan Gallardo
“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.
Match28 Nov 2026
0‑1 to Guadalajara, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Carlos Herrera commits to Veracruz for another 1 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Hirving Martin, 34, rolls back the years — 7.93
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.93 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match24 Oct 2026
5 matches without a win for Veracruz
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Veracruz are no longer polite ones.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Arteaga 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Alan Mendoza 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
1‑2 to Pachuca, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roberto 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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
A mark of 7.82, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Hirving Martin has become a man the manager trusts
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.
Match10 Oct 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Tijuana leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 8.29 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Roberto Herrera, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Efrain Herrera and Veracruz agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Guillermo Arteaga has become a man the manager trusts
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Sep 2026
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Arteaga 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
“The easiest signature of my career.” Andres Ramirez and Veracruz agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Alan Mendoza 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 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market17 Aug 2026
The unthinkable, invoiced: Uriel Gutierrez sold
Ajax arrived with $6.8M 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Atlas come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Veracruz did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.30, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Veracruz sell a favourite for $6.8M
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Uriel Gutierrez was one of the reasons people came, and $6.8M does not replace that by itself.
Player ratings17 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Leon paid $2.9M 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.
Squad17 Aug 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Marco Arteaga scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Queretaro, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.