Marked for Erick Ramirez
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 Dec 2040
A knee injury of the worst kind for Héctor Holguín
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chiapas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad3 Dec 2040
A fracture rules Hector Pineda out for 72 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chiapas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings3 Dec 2040
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.97 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad3 Dec 2040
“The easiest signature of my career.” Besalet Krasniqi and Chiapas agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Dec 2040
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chiapas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match1 Dec 2040
A 2‑1 win over Pumas UNAM, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings3 Dec 2040
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings3 Dec 2040
5.75 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
Market3 Dec 2040
4 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Chiapas money.
In brief
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Boardroom
The Chiapas production line keeps running
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Boardroom
Chiapas answer back
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Nov 2040
A knee injury of the worst kind for Héctor Holguín
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chiapas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces26 Nov 2040
Anger at Chiapas spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match24 Nov 2040
Nowhere to hide for Chiapas
1‑4 against Tigres, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad26 Nov 2040
A fracture rules Hector Pineda out for 79 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chiapas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad26 Nov 2040
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad26 Nov 2040
Jorge Landeros 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Nov 2040
A knee injury of the worst kind for Héctor Holguín
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chiapas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad12 Nov 2040
A fracture rules Hector Pineda out for 93 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chiapas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match10 Nov 2040
Nobody wants to play Chiapas right now
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Match10 Nov 2040
A 3‑2 win over Santos Laguna, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad12 Nov 2040
Jorge Landeros 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.
Squad12 Nov 2040
Words at Chiapas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luca Petrasso 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Oct 2040
A knee injury of the worst kind for Héctor Holguín
62 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chiapas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad22 Oct 2040
A fracture rules Hector Pineda out for 114 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chiapas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match20 Oct 2040
The 87th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Jorge Landeros decided nobody was going anywhere. Dorados had no time left to answer.
Squad22 Oct 2040
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad22 Oct 2040
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chiapas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match20 Oct 2040
Three points for Chiapas, 1‑0 the final word against Dorados in a contest settled by the finer margins.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Oct 2040
A knee injury of the worst kind for Héctor Holguín
69 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chiapas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad15 Oct 2040
A fracture rules Hector Pineda out for 121 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chiapas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match13 Oct 2040
Chiapas leaking at the back
4 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad15 Oct 2040
Jorge Landeros 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.
Player ratings15 Oct 2040
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Oct 2040
A knee injury of the worst kind for Héctor Holguín
76 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chiapas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad8 Oct 2040
Jack Jasinski breaks a bone — 16 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad8 Oct 2040
200 appearances across 12 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Chiapas know what they have.
Squad8 Oct 2040
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Francisco Vivas and Chiapas agree another 2 years.
Match6 Oct 2040
Chiapas come up short against Leon
Leon left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings8 Oct 2040
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Oct 2040
A knee injury of the worst kind for Héctor Holguín
83 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chiapas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces1 Oct 2040
Anger at Chiapas spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad1 Oct 2040
Jack Jasinski breaks a bone — 23 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match1 Oct 2040
Every point is an argument now for Chiapas
Position 16 and 8 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.
Squad1 Oct 2040
199 appearances across 12 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Chiapas know what they have.
Squad1 Oct 2040
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings1 Oct 2040
Mathías González, 35, rolls back the years — 7.86
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.86 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market1 Oct 2040
Héctor Holguín 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 Chiapas hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Match29 Sep 2040
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mathías González. 3‑2 against Toluca, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Sep 2040
A knee injury of the worst kind for Héctor Holguín
90 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chiapas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match22 Sep 2040
No end in sight to Chiapas's wait for a win
14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Chiapas has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad24 Sep 2040
There were 10 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad24 Sep 2040
Jack Jasinski breaks a bone — 30 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings24 Sep 2040
A brace, and Agustín Melean takes the afternoon — 8.29
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Agustín Melean provided it, and the 8.29 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market24 Sep 2040
Only the photograph left for Erick Ramirez
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Erick Ramirez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chiapas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Sep 2040
A knee injury of the worst kind for Héctor Holguín
97 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chiapas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match15 Sep 2040
13 matches without a win for Chiapas
The run now stands at 13, and the questions being asked around Chiapas are no longer polite ones.
Squad17 Sep 2040
Jack Jasinski breaks a bone — 37 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad17 Sep 2040
Jorge Landeros 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.
Squad17 Sep 2040
Words at Chiapas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luca Petrasso 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.
Player ratings17 Sep 2040
Marked 7.67. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Match15 Sep 2040
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Player ratings17 Sep 2040
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings17 Sep 2040
Chances created: 5. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Sep 2040
A knee injury of the worst kind for Héctor Holguín
104 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chiapas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match8 Sep 2040
No end in sight to Chiapas's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Chiapas has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad10 Sep 2040
Jack Jasinski breaks a bone — 44 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad10 Sep 2040
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad10 Sep 2040
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chiapas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match8 Sep 2040
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Player ratings10 Sep 2040
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market10 Sep 2040
No fee and no drama: George Bradley has signed at Chiapas, and the wage bill is the only line that moved.
Market10 Sep 2040
The market said no: Juan Ibarra stays put
Chiapas opened the door and nobody walked through it. So Juan Ibarra stays — listed, trained, and available — while both sides mark the days to January on the same calendar.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Aug 2040
A knee injury of the worst kind for Héctor Holguín
118 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chiapas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match25 Aug 2040
No end in sight to Chiapas's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Chiapas has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad27 Aug 2040
Jack Jasinski breaks a bone — 58 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 58 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match22 Aug 2040
Chiapas bow out of the cup
Puebla go through and Chiapas go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Squad27 Aug 2040
“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.
Market27 Aug 2040
Erick Ramirez has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chiapas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match25 Aug 2040
No clean sheets in sight for Chiapas
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Match25 Aug 2040
A bad afternoon for Chiapas against Tijuana
1‑2 to Tijuana, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad27 Aug 2040
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chiapas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 Aug 2040
A knee injury of the worst kind for Héctor Holguín
125 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chiapas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad20 Aug 2040
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad20 Aug 2040
Jack Jasinski breaks a bone — 65 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 65 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match18 Aug 2040
No end in sight to Chiapas's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Chiapas has to find a result from somewhere.
Match18 Aug 2040
Cruz Azul left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings20 Aug 2040
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad20 Aug 2040
Jorge Landeros 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.
Player ratings20 Aug 2040
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
Player ratings20 Aug 2040
Chances created: 5. Somebody has to open a door before anybody can walk through it, and he spent the afternoon opening doors.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Aug 2040
Héctor Holguín damages knee ligaments — 132 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 132 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.
Squad13 Aug 2040
Joseph Jones breaks a bone — 14 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match11 Aug 2040
7 matches without a win for Chiapas
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Chiapas are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings13 Aug 2040
Marked 6.64 on 14 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Squad13 Aug 2040
Jorge Landeros 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.
Match11 Aug 2040
Monterrey left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad13 Aug 2040
6 new faces, and Chiapas are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Market13 Aug 2040
At 35, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
Player ratings13 Aug 2040
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Aug 2040
Héctor Holguín damages knee ligaments — 139 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 139 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.
The terraces6 Aug 2040
The mood at Chiapas has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad6 Aug 2040
Joseph Jones breaks a bone — 21 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad6 Aug 2040
“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.
Match4 Aug 2040
No end in sight to Chiapas's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Chiapas has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad6 Aug 2040
385 appearances across 11 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Chiapas know what they have.
Match4 Aug 2040
0‑1 to Pumas UNAM, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings6 Aug 2040
Successful dribbles: 9. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market6 Aug 2040
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Gerardo Ramirez leaves Chiapas the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Jul 2040
Héctor Holguín damages knee ligaments — 146 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 146 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.
Squad30 Jul 2040
Joseph Jones breaks a bone — 28 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad30 Jul 2040
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market30 Jul 2040
“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 Chiapas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match28 Jul 2040
No end in sight to Chiapas's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Chiapas has to find a result from somewhere.
Market30 Jul 2040
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chiapas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad30 Jul 2040
Jorge Landeros 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.
Player ratings30 Jul 2040
Marked 7.75 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Chiapas had the best player on the pitch.
Match28 Jul 2040
A 1‑1 draw with Tigres leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Jul 2040
A knee injury of the worst kind for Diego Rodríguez
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chiapas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad2 Jul 2040
Joseph Jones breaks a bone — 56 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 56 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match2 Jul 2040
Every point is an argument now for Chiapas
Position 16 and 25 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.
Squad2 Jul 2040
100 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Market2 Jul 2040
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chiapas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market2 Jul 2040
Héctor Holguín 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 Chiapas hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Jun 2040
A knee injury of the worst kind for Diego Rodríguez
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chiapas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad4 Jun 2040
Joseph Jones breaks a bone — 84 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 84 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match4 Jun 2040
Every point is an argument now for Chiapas
Position 16 and 25 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.
Market4 Jun 2040
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chiapas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad4 Jun 2040
“The easiest signature of my career.” Joseph Jones and Chiapas agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Jun 2040
Jorge Landeros 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 May 2040
A knee injury of the worst kind for Diego Rodríguez
70 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chiapas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad7 May 2040
Joseph Jones breaks a bone — 112 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 112 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom7 May 2040
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Match7 May 2040
Every point is an argument now for Chiapas
Position 16 and 25 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.
Squad7 May 2040
395 appearances across 13 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Market7 May 2040
Erick Ramirez has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Chiapas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad7 May 2040
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Besalet Krasniqi commits to Chiapas for another 2 years.
Market7 May 2040
The name of Héctor Holguín keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Chiapas say nothing, which says plenty.
Boardroom7 May 2040
Chiapas pull $3.0M back off the table
The money that was there in the summer is not there now. Nobody upstairs calls this a change of ambition, and everybody downstairs reads it as one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Apr 2040
A knee injury of the worst kind for Diego Rodríguez
98 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chiapas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad9 Apr 2040
Joseph Jones breaks a bone — 140 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 140 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match9 Apr 2040
Chiapas sink to position 16
25 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market9 Apr 2040
Only the photograph left for Erick Ramirez
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Erick Ramirez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chiapas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad9 Apr 2040
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mateo Casares and Chiapas agree another 2 years.
Squad9 Apr 2040
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chiapas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Mar 2040
A knee injury of the worst kind for Diego Rodríguez
126 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chiapas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match12 Mar 2040
Every point is an argument now for Chiapas
Position 16 and 25 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.
Match10 Mar 2040
Nowhere to hide for Chiapas
0‑3 against Santos Laguna, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market12 Mar 2040
Only the photograph left for Erick Ramirez
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Erick Ramirez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Chiapas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad12 Mar 2040
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chiapas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Mar 2040
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Juan Ibarra and Chiapas agree another 1 years.
Squad12 Mar 2040
The team sheet said everything about Anthony Markanich
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 Anthony Markanich.
Boardroom12 Mar 2040
Doors closed at Chiapas
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Market12 Mar 2040
The name of Héctor Holguín keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Chiapas say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match11 Feb 2040
10 matches without a win for Chiapas
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Chiapas are no longer polite ones.
Market13 Feb 2040
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chiapas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad13 Feb 2040
Camilo Agualimpia 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.
Squad13 Feb 2040
Anthony Markanich 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.
Match11 Feb 2040
Guadalajara left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad13 Feb 2040
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Camilo Agualimpia, and the manager let it.
Market13 Feb 2040
The name of Héctor Holguín keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Chiapas say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad13 Feb 2040
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Market13 Feb 2040
The clock does Joaquín Cruz’s negotiating for him
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Chiapas could ask drops and the wages Joaquín Cruz can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match4 Feb 2040
9 matches without a win for Chiapas
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Chiapas are no longer polite ones.
Squad6 Feb 2040
A fracture rules Erick Ramirez out for 15 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chiapas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom6 Feb 2040
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Chiapas
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad6 Feb 2040
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Chiapas may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad6 Feb 2040
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mathías González and Chiapas agree another 2 years.
Squad6 Feb 2040
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chiapas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match4 Feb 2040
Chiapas come up short against Leon
Leon left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The terraces6 Feb 2040
Everybody has an opinion about Héctor Holguín
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.
Boardroom6 Feb 2040
$3.0M taken back off the Chiapas table
What was available in the summer has quietly gone. Upstairs nobody will call it a change of ambition; downstairs nobody will call it anything else.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Jan 2040
A fracture rules Erick Ramirez out for 22 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chiapas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match28 Jan 2040
The wait goes on for Chiapas
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market30 Jan 2040
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Chiapas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom30 Jan 2040
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Joaquín Cruz has agreed terms with Puebla for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad30 Jan 2040
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chiapas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Jan 2040
“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.
Match28 Jan 2040
The goals have deserted Chiapas
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Chiapas can tell you which week it ends in.
Match28 Jan 2040
A bad afternoon for Chiapas against Toluca
0‑1 to Toluca, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad30 Jan 2040
The medical room confirms 31 days on the sidelines for Rodolfo Montes, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces23 Jan 2040
The mood at Chiapas has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match23 Jan 2040
Chiapas sink to position 16
21 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad23 Jan 2040
A fracture rules Erick Ramirez out for 29 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chiapas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad23 Jan 2040
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match21 Jan 2040
The wait goes on for Chiapas
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad23 Jan 2040
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chiapas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Jan 2040
Words at Chiapas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anthony Markanich 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.
Match21 Jan 2040
Club America left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market23 Jan 2040
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Chiapas, another week without a signature from Jorge Landeros.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Jan 2040
A fracture rules Erick Ramirez out for 36 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Chiapas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match14 Jan 2040
6 matches without a win for Chiapas
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Chiapas are no longer polite ones.
Squad16 Jan 2040
Camilo Agualimpia 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.
Squad16 Jan 2040
Anthony Markanich 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.
Squad16 Jan 2040
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Chiapas pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Player ratings16 Jan 2040
14 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Market16 Jan 2040
The name of Héctor Holguín keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Chiapas say nothing, which says plenty.
Match14 Jan 2040
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Morelia will be the happier side with the point.
Player ratings16 Jan 2040
10 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Jan 2040
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings9 Jan 2040
A brace, and Mateo Casares takes the afternoon — 8.28
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mateo Casares provided it, and the 8.28 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match7 Jan 2040
5 matches without a win for Chiapas
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Chiapas are no longer polite ones.
Squad9 Jan 2040
Anthony Markanich 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.
Squad9 Jan 2040
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Diego Rodríguez commits to Chiapas for another 2 years.
Match7 Jan 2040
No time for Pachuca to settle
The goal that put Pachuca ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Chiapas equalised, 2 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Match7 Jan 2040
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad9 Jan 2040
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Almir Lira, and the manager let it.
Player ratings9 Jan 2040
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Jan 2040
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings2 Jan 2040
Joaquín Cruz, 33, rolls back the years — 7.95
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.95 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market2 Jan 2040
Héctor Holguín 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 Chiapas hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Match31 Dec 2039
The wait goes on for Chiapas
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad2 Jan 2040
Camilo Agualimpia 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.
Squad2 Jan 2040
Anthony Markanich 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.
Squad2 Jan 2040
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Diego Rodríguez and Chiapas agree another 2 years.
Match31 Dec 2039
It needed Jorge Landeros to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Puebla, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Market2 Jan 2040
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Erick Ramirez has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Chiapas.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Jun 2039
A knee injury of the worst kind for Francisco Meza
123 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chiapas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad27 Jun 2039
Mateo Casares breaks a bone — 68 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 68 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market27 Jun 2039
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces13 Jun 2039
Anger at Chiapas spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad13 Jun 2039
A knee injury of the worst kind for Francisco Meza
137 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chiapas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad13 Jun 2039
Mateo Casares breaks a bone — 82 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 82 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match13 Jun 2039
Chiapas sink to position 18
5 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad13 Jun 2039
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chiapas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market13 Jun 2039
Guadalajara are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Chiapas will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad6 Jun 2039
A knee injury of the worst kind for Francisco Meza
144 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Chiapas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad6 Jun 2039
Mateo Casares breaks a bone — 89 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 89 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom6 Jun 2039
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
Squad6 Jun 2039
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Chiapas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Jun 2039
Words at Chiapas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anthony Markanich 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.
Market6 Jun 2039
The name of Erick Ramirez has come up in conversations Chiapas were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.