2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Juninho will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Pumas UNAM escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Pumas UNAM know it.
Sebastián Córdova 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.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.91 beside his name.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Rubén Duarte 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.
Marked 8.00 — 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.
“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 Pumas UNAM hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rubén Duarte 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.
Sebastián Córdova 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.
Squad29 May 2028
Nathan Silva 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.
Carlos Moreno 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.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Pachuca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Fernández 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.
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pumas UNAM 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 Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rubén Duarte 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.
48 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pumas UNAM lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. José Capponi is living that version at Pumas UNAM, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad15 May 2028
Rubén Duarte 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 Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 72 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
80 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Pumas UNAM 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 Pumas UNAM 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. Álvaro Angulo wants continental football; whether Pumas UNAM can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Álvaro Angulo 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.
Keylor Navas damages knee ligaments — 113 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 113 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.
Sebastián Córdova 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Pumas UNAM are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Two goals and a mark of 8.73 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Pachuca is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Manuel Keliano 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. Joaquín Tobio Burgos 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.
Santos Laguna made Pachuca work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Pachuca training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Adrián Sánchez 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pachuca this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Jesús Rivas is living that version at Pumas UNAM, and it tends to show in the first month.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Jesús Rivas is a Pumas UNAM player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Pumas UNAM and Toluca in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Rubén Duarte 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Pumas UNAM are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑1 against Morelia, and it could have been more.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rubén Duarte 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.
Redouane Halhal 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.
“I watch every Pumas UNAM game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Danubio runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
A touch he did not want, a bounce he could not have read, and his name in the wrong column. There is no consoling a man after one of these, and Pumas UNAM will not try tonight.
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.
Nobody at Pumas UNAM 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Álvaro Angulo wants continental football; whether Pumas UNAM can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Rubén Duarte 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Juninho. 1‑0 against Tigres, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.10 — 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Pumas UNAM heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Pumas UNAM, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Pumas UNAM told Álvaro Angulo something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Juninho signs something — a contract at Pumas UNAM or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
Player ratingsCésar Huerta changes it off the bench
The chase for Bernardo Parra ended with $730.0K changing hands and Queretaro out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Rubén Duarte 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.
“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 Pumas UNAM, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Everyone has stopped pretending: America de Cali will make the call about Pablo Lara this week. Pumas UNAM have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM 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. Álvaro Angulo wants continental football; whether Pumas UNAM can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Rubén Duarte 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 words a physio says slowly. 95 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Rodrigo López again, and this time the name on the line is Espanyol. Pumas UNAM are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Rubén Duarte 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.