Marked for Nestor Gutierrez
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match11 Dec 2027
The run at home goes on for Club America
23 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Match11 Dec 2027
3‑0, and Brian Rodríguez took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Club America tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.30 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Age has not caught Talisca yet — 8.18
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.18 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market13 Dec 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Club America is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market13 Dec 2027
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Henry Martín and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market13 Dec 2027
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Club America can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Carlos Álvarez 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Jul 2027
The knee: Henry Martín out for 39 days
39 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Club America lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market12 Jul 2027
Club America spend $2.8M to raise the standard
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $2.8M has been paid because Marco Farfan is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Marco Farfan arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Marco Farfan has, at Club America, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Transfer targets12 Jul 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Carlos Álvarez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market12 Jul 2027
Fernando Tapia wants to know where this is going
“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 Club America hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Market12 Jul 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Club America have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Alexis Gutiérrez 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 dugout12 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nestor Gutierrez, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match23 Jan 2027
Chiapas will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Club America were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.51, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match23 Jan 2027
Whatever happens, Club America do not lose
11 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Market25 Jan 2027
Luis Malagón has left for Sevilla in a $9.6M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Market25 Jan 2027
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Club America have paid $4.8M for Nestor Gutierrez, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Market25 Jan 2027
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Nestor Gutierrez arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Nestor Gutierrez has, at Club America, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Transfer targets25 Jan 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.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
No deal for Rubén Duarte at that price
Club America offered $4.1M; Pumas UNAM said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market25 Jan 2027
Club America arrived with $4.8M 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.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 30. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The terraces25 Jan 2027
Nestor Gutierrez has gone, the accounts have $4.8M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Market25 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Alexis 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jaime Gómez 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.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Huracán have kept their man, and Veracruz go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match23 Jan 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout25 Jan 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market18 Jan 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Club America people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market18 Jan 2027
Fenerbahce did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $6.4M for Talisca, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
$4.8M on the table at Veracruz. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Talisca gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Talisca has just signed for Club America, and for once the answer mattered.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Club America offered $5.4M; Pachuca said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Match16 Jan 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation Club America did not have in the autumn.
Transfer targets18 Jan 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Henry Martín and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Talisca signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Talisca and Club America agree another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 41. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match16 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑3 by Pumas UNAM, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market18 Jan 2027
Veracruz say no — this time
The offer from Leon for Nestor Gutierrez 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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: New York City keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad18 Jan 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ulises Rivas 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
Add another name to the list: Willem II have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Carlos Sanchez. The answer from Veracruz has not changed — yet.
The dugout18 Jan 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.
Boardroom18 Jan 2027
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Dec 2026
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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Veracruz
Jaime Gómez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market21 Dec 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Veracruz have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Veracruz
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ulises Rivas was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match19 Dec 2026
Club America left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jorge Barrios, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Dec 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.11, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad23 Nov 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Jaime Gómez 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Three points for Veracruz, 3‑1 the final word against Leon in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout23 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Santiago Ojeda commits to Veracruz for another 3 years.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Marked 8.08 — 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.
Match23 Nov 2026
The half-term report on Veracruz
Position 12, 20 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Carlos Lozano could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Veracruz
Alexis Alvarez 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
17 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Match7 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Guillermo Gallardo. 3‑2 against Chiapas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jhory Celaya commits to Veracruz for another 3 years.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Veracruz
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jaime Gómez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match7 Nov 2026
Veracruz are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Nestor Gutierrez 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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.69 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 47. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Ulises Rivas in a row with a teammate
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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Jaime Gómez 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Guillermo Alvarez, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Veracruz told Jorge Rodríguez something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad26 Oct 2026
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Guillermo Gallardo has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 40. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match10 Oct 2026
It had gone 9 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Veracruz
Alexis Alvarez 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Ulises Rivas 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 terraces12 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Nestor Gutierrez 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Nestor Gutierrez’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Veracruz.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Nestor Gutierrez at his very best
Marked 8.02. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Veracruz.
Squad12 Oct 2026
15 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Carlos Lozano on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Sep 2026
There were 10 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match12 Sep 2026
The wait goes on for Veracruz
6 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Veracruz
Ulises Rivas 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Veracruz
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jaime Gómez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match12 Sep 2026
A bad afternoon for Veracruz against Tigres
0‑2 to Tigres, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ernesto Reyes, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
13 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.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Ernesto Reyes dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Aug 2026
$6.1M 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.
Match19 Aug 2026
The small margins put Veracruz out
Out, 0‑0 to Chiapas, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
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
Successful dribbles: 33. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Andres Sanchez 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.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
Supporters turn on the $6.1M sale of Uriel Jimenez
He is going to Dorados, 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Veracruz
Alexis Alvarez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 Aug 2026
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Market10 Aug 2026
Veracruz say no — this time
The offer from Seattle Sounders for Hugo Montes 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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Age has not caught Manuel Ramirez yet — 8.21
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.21 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market10 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Guadalajara have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Alexis Alvarez. The answer from Veracruz has not changed — yet.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Veracruz have gone to Tijuana with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Manuel Ramirez and Veracruz agree another 2 years.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Godoy Cruz, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad10 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Veracruz
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Uriel Jimenez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.