Marked for Kevin Rodriguez
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Aug 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Pachuca waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Veracruz is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Match12 Aug 2028
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.
Market14 Aug 2028
“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.
Market14 Aug 2028
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Market14 Aug 2028
Business is business: Pablo Ortíz goes
Morelia paid $1.5M and Veracruz took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Everybody at Veracruz saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 38 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Guadalajara have kept their man, and Veracruz go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout14 Aug 2028
“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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market9 Aug 2027
Miguel Guzmán hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Veracruz can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Rosario Central keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at Veracruz
Richie Laryea 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.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
Veracruz asked and Leon said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match7 Aug 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market9 Aug 2027
The phone has started ringing about Kevin Rodriguez again, and this time the name on the line is Queretaro. Veracruz are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Jesus Romo 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.
Market9 Aug 2027
Jesus Romo told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Jesus Romo has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Veracruz.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kevin Escamilla, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Jul 2027
“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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
$1.1M settles it between the clubs for Jesús Corona
Monterrey have accepted the money. What Veracruz do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Veracruz may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.01, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market26 Jul 2027
Queretaro come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Veracruz did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market26 Jul 2027
The fee is $390.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Pumas UNAM drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Veracruz
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad26 Jul 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.