Marked for Hector Ramirez
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Feb 2027
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.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Olimpia keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Match6 Feb 2027
The drought breaks for Veracruz
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Tijuana were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Hector Ramirez commits to Veracruz for another 4 years.
Match6 Feb 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Hector Ramirez. 3‑1 against Tijuana, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Veracruz asked and Tijuana 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 terraces8 Feb 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Hector Ramirez 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Marco Gallardo 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
12 shut-outs and counting. Goalkeepers are only noticed when they fail, and Hector Edson has given nobody the chance.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Feb 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad1 Feb 2027
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.
Match30 Jan 2027
7 matches without a win for Veracruz
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Veracruz are no longer polite ones.
Market1 Feb 2027
Veracruz say no — this time
The offer from Guadalajara for Marco Gallardo 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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Veracruz close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: San Diego Football Club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Market1 Feb 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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Jan 2027
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.
Market18 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match16 Jan 2027
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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. St. Louis CITY SC have kept their man, and Veracruz go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
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.
Market18 Jan 2027
SC Freiburg are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Veracruz will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Match16 Jan 2027
Pumas UNAM left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Guillermo Pfund 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Veracruz are still strangers to each other
7 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.98, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad14 Dec 2026
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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.79 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match12 Dec 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Veracruz and Queretaro in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match12 Dec 2026
It finished 4‑2, and it was Hector Ramirez’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Veracruz.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A season average of 7.30 with 11 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Veracruz
Alan Mendoza 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.
The terraces14 Dec 2026
At 22 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 102 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match21 Nov 2026
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Marked 8.71 — 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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.48, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Guillermo Pfund 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nicolás Suárez and Veracruz agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Veracruz
Marco Gallardo 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.
Match23 Nov 2026
Veracruz at the halfway mark
Half the programme played, position 9, 28 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
6 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.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Guillermo Pfund 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Marco Gallardo 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
Veracruz rescue it on 92 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 92. Toluca had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
The dugout16 Nov 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout16 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.” Diego Vega chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Nov 2026
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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Chiapas will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Veracruz were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad9 Nov 2026
The match ball belongs to Roberto Sanchez, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Marked 10.00 — 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
The run at home goes on for Veracruz
9 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Veracruz
Alan Mendoza and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Hector Ramirez 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Veracruz settle it inside twenty minutes
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Chiapas spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Veracruz
Alan Mendoza 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.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
He is 22 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.03 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match19 Sep 2026
Late, late show earns Veracruz a point
Minute 96, against Pumas UNAM, 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Manuel Pérez
“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.
Match19 Sep 2026
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Diego Vega after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market24 Aug 2026
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.
Match19 Aug 2026
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Hector Ramirez obliged against Chiapas. 5‑5 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.
Match19 Aug 2026
Veracruz throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Chiapas the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Veracruz will enjoy reviewing.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Veracruz and Puebla have settled on $2.4M. 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Hector Edson decides it from twelve yards
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Guillermo Montes, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.68
A mark of 7.68 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market24 Aug 2026
Gerardo Romo 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.