Marked for Jonathan Herrera
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom31 May 2027
Continental nights are coming to Veracruz
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
Squad31 May 2027
A row about effort at Veracruz
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alberto Joshimar Acosta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad31 May 2027
A falling-out at Veracruz
Jonathan Herrera and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout31 May 2027
Christian Araujo 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.
Market31 May 2027
The Uriel Lozano talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Veracruz know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad31 May 2027
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Veracruz will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 May 2027
Eduardo Marquez 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.
Squad10 May 2027
A row about effort at Veracruz
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jaime Vásquez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout10 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sebastian Reyes, and the manager let it.
The dugout10 May 2027
When it matters, Kevin Ochoa plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market10 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Manuel Arteaga’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout10 May 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Romario Hernández has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Veracruz may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Squad29 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Jaime Vásquez 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Federico Pereyra and Veracruz agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.