It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo La Guaira this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Carlos Faya wants continental football; whether Deportivo La Guaira can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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 board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Deportivo La Guaira, and 4 appearances in 34 say he has earned the hearing.
The words a physio says slowly. 89 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Helinho wants continental football; whether Guadalajara can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Helinho 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.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Guadalajara did not have in the autumn.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Guadalajara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brian Gutiérrez 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Dorados will make the call about Ángel Romero this week. Guadalajara have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Deportivo Tachira will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Deportivo La Guaira were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Flabián Londoño provided it, and the 8.79 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
15 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Juan Sebastián Herrera wants continental football; whether Deportivo La Guaira can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
José Alí Meza 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Sebastián Herrera 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Deportivo La Guaira told Manuel Ramirez something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Deportivo La Guaira lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo La Guaira this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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.
“I did not go to Aragua to sit and watch. I want to come back to Deportivo La Guaira and fight for my place.” 4 appearances in 30 matches say the rest.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Metropolitanos? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Deportivo La Guaira lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
14 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.
Carlos Rivero 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Manuel Ramirez has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bryan Duarte will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Deportivo La Guaira the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo La Guaira this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
“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 Guadalajara, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Brian Gutiérrez and Guadalajara agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Richard Ledezma 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 Jul 2027
Words at Guadalajara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brian Gutiérrez 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.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Deportivo La Guaira can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo La Guaira this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Deportivo La Guaira game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Aragua runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“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 Deportivo La Guaira, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
Manuel Ramirez, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.69
A mark of 7.69 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.06 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
12 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Deportivo La Guaira is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The offer from Estudiantes de Caracas for Jorge Sánchez was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Deportivo La Guaira this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Oussama Idrissi wants continental football; whether Guadalajara can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Richard Ledezma 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.
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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Add another name to the list: Morelia have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Jonathan Pérez. The answer from Guadalajara has not changed — yet.
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.
Toluca did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $5.8M for Helinho, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Guadalajara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kevin Castañeda and Guadalajara agree another 4 years.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Guadalajara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bryan González 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 phone has started ringing about Jordan Carrillo again, and this time the name on the line is Dorados. Guadalajara are listening politely and promising nothing.
Nobody at Guadalajara 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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Alan Pulido has his answer from Guadalajara; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Guadalajara can pretend not to have heard.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Richard Ledezma 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Guadalajara training over how hard people work
SquadA place in the month's best eleven for Manuel Ramirez
“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.
Squad17 May 2027
Tomás Rincón 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rosenborg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 86th, and IK Start spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Manuel Ramirez did not need any: 7.69, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Ole Selnæs 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Johan Bakke has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Sarpsborg 08 left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom10 May 2027
Nobody left the Rosenborg dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Rosenborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomás Rincón 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Guadalajara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Guadalajara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bryan González 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.
Successful dribbles: 50. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Manuel Ramirez, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.71
A mark of 7.71 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Leopold Wahlstedt 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.
At 20 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.
The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Rosenborg who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Going 2 down does something to a side, and what it usually does is finish them. Not here. Rosenborg rebuilt the afternoon goal by goal, and Mjondalen had no answer to any of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rosenborg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Rosenborg training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomás Rincón 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.
Nobody at Rosenborg 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.
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Guadalajara lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Oussama Idrissi wants continental football; whether Guadalajara can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Richard Ledezma 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.
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.
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.
Aslak Fonn Witry 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.
Boardroom12 Apr 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Rosenborg
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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ole Bjorkan has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Marcus King has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Martin Odegaard has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Martin Selnaes has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rosenborg this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Sarpsborg 08 paid $790.0K and Rosenborg took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The young player of the month award goes to a 20-year-old at Rosenborg who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Ole Selnæs 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.
Nobody at Rosenborg 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.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Rosenborg will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Federico Girotti wants continental football; whether Guadalajara can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Guadalajara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Héctor Moreno.
1‑0 against Club America, and the songs went on long after the whistle. League positions come and go; days like this get retold at family dinners for years.
Richard Ledezma 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.
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.
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.
The young player of the month award goes to a 20-year-old at Guadalajara who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Guadalajara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Guadalajara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bryan González 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.
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. Guadalajara deserved better, and so did he.
At 20 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Manuel Ramirez, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.80
A mark of 7.80 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Oussama Idrissi wants continental football; whether Guadalajara can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Guadalajara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Guadalajara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brian Gutiérrez 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Manuel Ramirez has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“I watch every Guadalajara 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.
In brief
Player ratingsThe cruellest goal, and it is Jonathan Pérez's
Richard Ledezma 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.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Bryan González has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Oussama Idrissi. 1‑0 against Morelia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Guadalajara pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Manuel Ramirez has come out of that comparison in the side, and Guadalajara have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 10 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Pachuca did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $7.6M for Oussama Idrissi, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Richard Ledezma 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.
The phone has started ringing about Manuel Ramirez again, and this time the name on the line is Blackpool. Guadalajara are listening politely and promising nothing.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Oussama Idrissi from Pachuca for $7.6M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
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.
$52.8M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Guadalajara scored in the 101th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $3.7M has been paid because Pablo Moreno is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
He is going to Chelsea, the club has $52.8M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Brian Gutiérrez and Guadalajara agree another 5 years.
Richard Ledezma 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.
The offer from Santiago Wanderers for Manuel Ramirez was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Richard Ledezma 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.
9 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.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Guadalajara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Federico Girotti provided it, and the 9.07 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Roberto Alvarado provided it, and the 8.65 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Roberto Alvarado 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.
6 goals in one match, Roberto Alvarado on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Guadalajara and Veracruz.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Manuel Ramirez has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Guadalajara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Guadalajara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bryan González 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Guadalajara told Federico Girotti something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Guadalajara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Toluca made Guadalajara work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Guadalajara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bryan González 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Guadalajara lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Manuel Ramirez, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.83
A mark of 7.83 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Roberto Alvarado 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.
Three points for Guadalajara, 2‑0 the final word against Pachuca in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Guadalajara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brian Gutiérrez 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 words a physio says slowly. 44 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Roberto Alvarado provided it, and the 8.63 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Manuel Ramirez did not need any: 7.77, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Guadalajara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Manuel Ramirez has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Marked 8.32 — 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Guadalajara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ángel Sepúlveda 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.
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Guadalajara lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Guadalajara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Guadalajara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bryan González 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.
99 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Guadalajara lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Manuel Ramirez has just signed for Guadalajara, and for once the answer mattered.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Guadalajara this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Leonardo Sepúlveda has come up in conversations Guadalajara were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Guadalajara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ángel Sepúlveda 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.
There were 86 minutes on the clock and Queretaro had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Veracruz did not stop to explain themselves.
Guadalajara pay $2.2M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Juan Ramírez 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.
Jorge Torres Nilo 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.
It finished 2‑1, and it was Raul Ramirez’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Veracruz.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Raul Ramirez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.17. 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Veracruz and Dorados in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Raul Ramirez 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 offer from FC Cincinnati for Fernando Vega was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Veracruz training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raul Ramirez 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.
Luis Edson 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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Veracruz, and both men came out saying it was fine.