The Veracruz Courier
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Diego Perez runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Oribe Lainez 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.
The terraces8 Feb 2027
The crowd has taken to Santiago Sandoval
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.
Match6 Feb 2027
Carlos Arteaga sends Veracruz past Tijuana
It finished 2‑0, and it was Carlos Arteaga’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Veracruz.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Ninety minutes of Oribe Reyes at his very best
Marked 8.49. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Veracruz.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
A masterclass from Carlos Arteaga
Marked 8.19 — 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Fernando Salcedo 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
No hiding place for Ivan Ramirez
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Ramirez, and the manager let it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Diego Perez suspended
One booking too many, and Diego Perez sits out. Veracruz lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
In brief
- Market The Carlos Arteaga talk will not go away
- Market Veracruz borrow Yael Padilla
- Player ratings The pass was always on for Santiago Sandoval