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.
It finished 2‑0, and it was Bryan González’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Guadalajara.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Bryan González was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.39. 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.
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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Richard Ledezma signs something — a contract at Guadalajara or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Puebla next, and one man in the Guadalajara dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“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.
The offer from Toluca for Jonathan Pérez 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Guadalajara is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
9 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ángel Sepúlveda trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Porto arrived with $34.1M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
Roberto Alvarado has gone, the accounts have $34.1M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
“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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Juan Dinenno wants continental football; whether Guadalajara can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Richard Ledezma 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Luca Langoni 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Pumas UNAM have kept their man, and Guadalajara go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Guadalajara they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 Guadalajara hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Guadalajara asked and Toluca said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Iker Fimbres was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Juan Dinenno 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Roberto Alvarado is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Roberto Alvarado signs something — a contract at Guadalajara or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Guadalajara, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Guadalajara. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
SquadRichard Ledezma is training like a man with a point to make
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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Guadalajara training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iker Fimbres 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 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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Roberto Alvarado signs something — a contract at Guadalajara or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A new face in his position, and Roberto Alvarado suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Guadalajara have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Luca Langoni arrives at Guadalajara with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Enzo Díaz wants continental football; whether Guadalajara can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad19 Apr 2027
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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Richard Ledezma is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Efraín Álvarez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Guadalajara know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Guadalajara that is a harder question to answer.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Guadalajara. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The words a physio says slowly. 33 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.
4 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.
“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 Guadalajara hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Richard Ledezma 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.
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.
Marked 8.35 — 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.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Sebastian Guardado, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
SquadThe division's best last weekend was a Guadalajara man
Guadalajara offered $2.9M; Pachuca said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Guadalajara have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Guadalajara can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kevin Castañeda. 1‑0 against Tijuana, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Juan Dinenno
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Juan Dinenno has come out of that comparison in the side, and Guadalajara have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Carlos Hernández is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Efraín Álvarez and Guadalajara agree another 4 years.
Half the programme played, position 7, 29 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The 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 is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Marked 8.25 — 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Kevin Castañeda was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
7 new faces, and Guadalajara 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.
Cristian Inda 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Sebastian Guardado kept it short after the 4‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“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.
AEK have accepted the money. What Guadalajara do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Renato Tapia wants continental football; whether Guadalajara can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Guadalajara offered $170.0K; Pumas UNAM said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
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.
Marked 8.21 — 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Brian Gutiérrez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. 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 offer from Cruz Azul for Raúl Rangel 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.
Guadalajara asked and Santos Laguna said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $220.0K — a club that wants Jaziel Martínez enough to be asked twice.
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 offer went to Morelia this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The phone has started ringing about Leonardo Sepúlveda again, and this time the name on the line is Dorados. Guadalajara are listening politely and promising nothing.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Gabriel Herrera 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Nestor Ramirez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
Player ratingsEfraín Álvarez ran the middle of the pitch — 6.78
Player ratingsNobody on the pitch touched Luis Romo