Marked for Roberto Arteaga
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 38. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad20 Sep 2027
The words a physio says slowly. 70 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.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
A brace, and Daniel Gutierrez takes the afternoon — 8.90
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Daniel Gutierrez provided it, and the 8.90 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match18 Sep 2027
The wait goes on for Veracruz
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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
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 Sep 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Facundo Insfrán is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match18 Sep 2027
Pumas UNAM left with the points after a 3‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Match18 Sep 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Veracruz and Pumas UNAM, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Ninety minutes of Logan Farrington at his very best
Marked 9.01. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Veracruz.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Sep 2027
The words a physio says slowly. 86 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.
Market6 Sep 2027
The chase for Brian Figueroa ended with $1.9M changing hands and Morelia out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad6 Sep 2027
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 terraces6 Sep 2027
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Brian Figueroa from Morelia for $1.9M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Marked 7.47 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Veracruz had the best player on the pitch.
Squad6 Sep 2027
5 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Logan Farrington is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Match4 Sep 2027
Point won or two lost for Veracruz?
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Aug 2027
The words a physio says slowly. 102 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.
Match21 Aug 2027
Nowhere to hide for Veracruz
0‑3 against Club America, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad23 Aug 2027
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.
Market23 Aug 2027
Abel Fuentes 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Facundo Insfrán is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
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.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 9. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market2 Aug 2027
“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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
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.
Match31 Jul 2027
4 matches without a win for Veracruz
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Veracruz are no longer polite ones.
Squad2 Aug 2027
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.
Match31 Jul 2027
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Veracruz and Guadalajara in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match31 Jul 2027
2‑4 to Guadalajara, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jose Araujo and Veracruz agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Ninety minutes of Efrain Jimenez at his very best
Marked 8.03. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Veracruz.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Jul 2027
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.
Market19 Jul 2027
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Sergio Barreto wants continental football; whether Veracruz can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Sergio Barreto 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Julián Fernández has improved at 32, 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.
Boardroom19 Jul 2027
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yohan González 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Jul 2027
Andres Alvarez breaks a bone — 109 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 109 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market5 Jul 2027
“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.
Market5 Jul 2027
The name of Andres Alvarez has come up in conversations Veracruz were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market5 Jul 2027
“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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sergio Barreto and Veracruz agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Sergio Barreto 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Jun 2027
$6.1M from Club America for Ivan Guardado. Money is money, but the dressing room has lost the man it looked to.
Market7 Jun 2027
Tijuana 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.
The terraces7 Jun 2027
Supporters turn on the $6.1M sale of Ivan Guardado
He is going to Club America, the club has $6.1M 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A muscle injury sidelines Sebastian Salcedo for 19 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Veracruz will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Andres Alvarez 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.
Market7 Jun 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Veracruz have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market1 Mar 2027
“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 ratings1 Mar 2027
No sign of nerves from Roberto Moreno at 18 — 7.62
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Roberto Moreno did not need any: 7.62, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad1 Mar 2027
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 terraces1 Mar 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Roberto 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.
Match27 Feb 2027
Three points for Veracruz, 1‑0 the final word against Morelia in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Veracruz told Romario Hernández something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Julián Fernández 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
Match30 Jan 2027
8 matches without a win for Veracruz
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Veracruz are no longer polite ones.
Market1 Feb 2027
Veracruz say no — this time
The offer from Ajax for Andres Alvarez 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
“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.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad1 Feb 2027
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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
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.
Match30 Jan 2027
Cruz Azul left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sergio Ceballos, and the manager let it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ramón Pasquel and Veracruz agree another 2 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match2 Jan 2027
Chastening afternoon for Veracruz
A 0‑3 beating by Atlas was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market4 Jan 2027
Veracruz say no — this time
The offer from Pumas UNAM for Ivan 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Veracruz have had the benefit of it.
Market4 Jan 2027
Raul Ochoa 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for Veracruz
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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Ivan 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Sergio Ceballos
“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.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
1‑2 to Queretaro, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“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.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Marked 8.07 — 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A season average of 7.21 with 7 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
The terraces14 Dec 2026
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match19 Sep 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Andres Alvarez 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.
Match19 Sep 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Pumas UNAM left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad21 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 35. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match19 Aug 2026
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Roberto Moreno obliged against Chiapas. 3‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Veracruz.
Match22 Aug 2026
Chastening afternoon for Veracruz
A 0‑3 beating by Club America was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.05, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market24 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Ivan Guardado again, and this time the name on the line is Pumas UNAM. Veracruz are listening politely and promising nothing.
Market24 Aug 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
The deal that would have taken Alexis Romo to Morelia has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Veracruz with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.