Marked for Jose Ochoa
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Apr 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 Leon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Leon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Pablo Domínguez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market5 Apr 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 Leon can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The dugout5 Apr 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Oscar García slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Oscar García is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Market5 Apr 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ismael Díaz’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Julio González has seen what the next man earns
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Leon that is a harder question to answer.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Jose Ochoa asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market5 Apr 2027
Leon have made Oscar García available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 35. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market15 Feb 2027
Daniel Arcila has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Leon they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Leon
Jordi Cortizo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Loan watch15 Feb 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Leon, and 1 appearances in 25 say he has earned the hearing.
Match13 Feb 2027
Toluca take the points off Leon
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Loan watch15 Feb 2027
28 appearances at Pachuca and the goals keep coming. Leon are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Leon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gael García was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Jose Ochoa
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
Match6 Feb 2027
The drought breaks for Leon
9 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Chiapas were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad8 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 Leon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Leon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Pablo Domínguez 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.
Match6 Feb 2027
It finished 2‑0, and it was Juan Pablo Domínguez’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Leon.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jose Ochoa and Leon agree another 1 years.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Marked 8.13 — 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 ratings8 Feb 2027
A performance of 8.07 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Sebastián Vegas was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 30. 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
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
Jose Ochoa: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Leon have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market4 Jan 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for Leon
5 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
The goals have deserted Leon
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Leon can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Leon
Jordi Cortizo 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
Jonathan Reyes is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Market4 Jan 2027
Add another name to the list: Guadalajara have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Édgar Guerra. The answer from Leon has not changed — yet.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 42. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match28 Oct 2026
The cup run ends for Leon
0‑2 against Tijuana, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Match31 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Leon's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Leon has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Leon
Jordi Cortizo 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.
Market2 Nov 2026
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Leon can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad2 Nov 2026
5 new faces, and Leon 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 dugout2 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The captaincy has been taken off Diber Cambindo. Leon will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Loan watch
The goals keep arriving from Nicolás Vallejo’s exile
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The dugout
The form table has caught Jose Ochoa
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Ismael Díaz beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 37. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Leon
Jordi Cortizo 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ismael Díaz. 2‑0 against Chiapas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Jordi Cortizo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.04. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Jose Ochoa gets it from the manager
“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.
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.” Ivan Vega on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Leon
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gael García was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The one goal every signing is asked about until it comes. It has come, and a press-conference question has been retired.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 36. 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jonathan Reyes is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Leon
Jordi Cortizo 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Juan Pablo Domínguez 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 dugout5 Oct 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at Leon
11 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout5 Oct 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.” Ivan Vega chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Match3 Oct 2026
Point won or two lost for Leon?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Morelia? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Leon asked and Toluca said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Leon
Jordi Cortizo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
At 23 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Leon have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Match29 Aug 2026
A 2‑0 win over Monterrey, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 7.76 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Leon had the best player on the pitch.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Leon
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Ivan Vega, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Aug 2026
$6.7M from Heidenheim for Andres Sanchez. Money is money, but the dressing room has lost the man it looked to.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
Veracruz sell a favourite for $6.7M
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Andres Sanchez was one of the reasons people came, and $6.7M does not replace that by itself.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
$600.0K on the table at Atlas. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Match29 Aug 2026
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.
Match29 Aug 2026
4 matches without a goal for Veracruz
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad31 Aug 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
Jose Ochoa has left for Leon in a $89.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Club America have kept their man, and Leon go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The clubs have shaken hands with Veracruz; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
$1.6M was the most the club would pay and Veracruz were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
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.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Leon's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Leon has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad24 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 Leon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Leon training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Pablo Domínguez 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
No clean sheets in sight for Leon
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
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.