Marked for Manuel Rodriguez
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 May 2027
A falling-out at Veracruz
Kevin Escamilla and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 May 2027
A row about effort at Veracruz
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jesus Romo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad3 May 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Mauricio Cuevas
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Mauricio Cuevas has come out of that comparison in the side, and Veracruz have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Squad3 May 2027
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Veracruz than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
The dugout3 May 2027
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.
The dugout3 May 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Veracruz. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Apr 2027
Only the photograph left for Daniel Moreno
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniel Moreno will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Veracruz the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Héctor Moreno: 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.” Veracruz have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.85, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Veracruz
Alfonso Blanco 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.
Match10 Apr 2027
Toluca made Veracruz work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The terraces12 Apr 2027
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Veracruz
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oswaldo Virgen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to José Mauri, and the manager let it.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Marked 7.90 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Veracruz had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Mar 2027
No end in sight to Veracruz's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Veracruz has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market15 Mar 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Veracruz is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad15 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Veracruz
Kevin Escamilla and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match13 Mar 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Manuel Rodriguez 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Hugo Lozano after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Veracruz pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Adrián Mora
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match8 Mar 2027
Every point is an argument now for Veracruz
Position 16 and 30 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market8 Mar 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.
Match6 Mar 2027
No end in sight to Veracruz's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Veracruz has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.15, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Manuel Gallardo commits to Veracruz for another 5 years.
Squad8 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Veracruz
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Manuel Rodriguez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout8 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Jan 2027
9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match6 Jan 2027
Monterrey ended it 0‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Market11 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Chiapas waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Veracruz is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market11 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 terraces11 Jan 2027
Veracruz sell a favourite for $46.8M
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Renato Lopes was one of the reasons people came, and $46.8M does not replace that by itself.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Manuel Rodriguez, 33, rolls back the years — 8.16
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.16 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The dugout11 Jan 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match24 Oct 2026
Veracruz throw away a 3-goal lead
3 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Tijuana the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Veracruz will enjoy reviewing.
Match26 Oct 2026
Veracruz are in real trouble now
Position 16, 11 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.34, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.93, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match24 Oct 2026
Tijuana left with the points after a 3‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The terraces26 Oct 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Veracruz
Santiago Cena 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
José Mauri 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Sep 2026
1‑5 to Atlas, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Manuel Rodriguez, 33, rolls back the years — 8.27
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.27 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market14 Sep 2026
The Tigres deal is off
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Oribe Montes reports back to Veracruz with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Match12 Sep 2026
Manuel Rodriguez among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Manuel Rodriguez on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Veracruz and Atlas.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
$110.0K was the most the club would pay and Puebla 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 targets14 Sep 2026
The clock did what Santos Laguna would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Veracruz
Mariano Penepil and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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.
Market31 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.92, and nobody on the pitch better.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $113.8K — a club that wants Raul Castillo enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The deal with Gimnasia La Plata is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The offer went to Puebla this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Leon wanted more than $190.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Match29 Aug 2026
Whatever happens, Veracruz do not lose
6 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Veracruz
Kevin Escamilla and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.