Marked for Manuel Montes
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Feb 2028
32 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Match26 Feb 2028
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 15 matches without defeat is a foundation Monterrey did not have in the autumn.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
Manuel Montes: 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.” Monterrey have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match26 Feb 2028
No end in sight to Monterrey's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Monterrey has to find a result from somewhere.
Market28 Feb 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Monterrey is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom28 Feb 2028
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Omar Mendoza has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words exchanged at Monterrey
Luca Orellano 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.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
Nobody could get near Óliver
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Monterrey training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Rossi 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match30 Oct 2027
Monterrey make home a hard place to visit
22 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Match30 Oct 2027
Still nobody has beaten Monterrey
The unbeaten run reaches 18. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Match27 Oct 2027
Monterrey march on in the cup
Veracruz are out and Monterrey go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match27 Oct 2027
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Monterrey scored in the 116th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Monterrey may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Age has not caught Anthony Lozano yet — 7.99
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.99 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market1 Nov 2027
Kevin Álvarez 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 Monterrey hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Orbelín Pineda 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
Match19 Jul 2027
66 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market19 Jul 2027
Guadalajara come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Monterrey did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
$1.6M was the most the club would pay and Cruz Azul 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.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Monterrey have gone to Santos Laguna 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.
Market19 Jul 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Monterrey is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom19 Jul 2027
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Luca Orellano and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets19 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Monterrey
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Orbelín Pineda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 May 2027
87 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Monterrey lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad10 May 2027
Hugo Cuypers 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
Orbelín Pineda 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.
Squad10 May 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Luis Colín and Monterrey agree another 3 years.
The dugout10 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Manuel Montes
“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.
The dugout10 May 2027
Luca Orellano gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Luca Orellano is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Apr 2027
The words a physio says slowly. 113 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Hugo Cuypers and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Monterrey training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Orbelín Pineda 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.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Víctor Guzmán
“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.
Loan watch19 Apr 2027
“I watch every Monterrey game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Chiapas runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Diego Rossi gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Diego Rossi is on it.
Market19 Apr 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Monterrey know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Monterrey. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Manuel Montes knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Monterrey, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match29 Mar 2027
Monterrey refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 66 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Jesús Corona 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.
Market29 Mar 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Monterrey have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Orbelín Pineda 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 dugout29 Mar 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.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Gerardo Arteaga has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Monterrey 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.
Market29 Mar 2027
The Óliver story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Óliver signs something — a contract at Monterrey or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Héctor Moreno knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Monterrey, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market15 Mar 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.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Monterrey
Hugo Cuypers 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Monterrey
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Orbelín Pineda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match13 Mar 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Orbelín Pineda was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.20. 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Héctor Moreno, and the manager let it.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
Boardroom15 Mar 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.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
When it matters, Luca Orellano plays
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Player ratings
The chances came and went for Óliver
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 36. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market8 Mar 2027
The bid was some way short and Monterrey did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Match6 Mar 2027
12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Víctor Guzmán pops up at the right end — 7.72
7.72, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jesús Corona commits to Monterrey for another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Hugo Cuypers 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Monterrey
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Orbelín Pineda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
No place for Erick Aguirre on the big day
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Monterrey pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Manuel Montes, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Óliver was unplayable
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Lucas Ocampos 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Aldo de Nigris is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Monterrey training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Orbelín Pineda 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 6 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A muscle injury and 14 days out for Roberto Araujo
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Monterrey will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Match17 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Manuel Herrera to a room that had heard them before.
Market19 Oct 2026
No place for Luis Reyes in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Luis Reyes has his answer from Monterrey; what he does with it is the next window’s story.