The Veracruz Courier
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Carlos Jimenez runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 39. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Mateo Levy keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Veracruz may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
A brace, and Efrain Dos Santos takes the afternoon — 8.24
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Efrain Dos Santos provided it, and the 8.24 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Veracruz
Efrain Dos Santos 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
Francisco Herrera 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 terraces16 Aug 2027
The crowd has taken to William Barboza
At 19 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.
Match14 Aug 2027
Veracruz get the job done against Queretaro
A 2‑0 win over Queretaro, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad16 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Mauricio Cuevas
“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 ratings16 Aug 2027
Off the bench and decisive: Marco Guardado
The substitution nobody applauded turned out to be the whole story. Veracruz were going nowhere until he came on.
In brief
- Market Ivan Martin leaves for nothing
- Market The Jorge Jimenez story refuses to die
- The terraces Efrain Dos Santos has his own song now