0‑3 against Guadalajara, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Chiapas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Alexis Melo 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Sergio Ceballos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Carlos Higuera knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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.
Juan Pablo Chávez 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.
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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Juan Pablo Chávez 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.
13 combined actions and 6.94. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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 Jero is on it.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Chiapas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Saldivar 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 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.
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.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Diego Abella’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Chiapas needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Emi Rodriguez arrived with a record at a bigger club than this one, and the room has treated him accordingly. The young ones watch him train; the senior ones watch to see whether it lasts.
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 Marvin Piñón is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Chiapas. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gil Giovanni Burón and Chiapas agree another 2 years.
Juan Pablo Chávez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Chiapas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergio Ceballos 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Chiapas has been clear about where Daniel Amador stands, which is more than many ever get.
Juan Pablo Chávez 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.
“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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Chiapas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Irving Zurita 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Chiapas has been clear about where Irving Zurita stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Juan Pablo Chávez 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 33, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
7.62, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Chiapas had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout20 Sep 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.” Eduardo Corona, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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 Jero is on it.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Alexis Melo 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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
$89.0K was the most the club would pay and Tigres were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
“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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 16 signed and 5 gone
That is the business done at Chiapas until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Guadalajara have kept their man, and Chiapas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Chiapas ran out of time with Guadalajara. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
The offer went to Tigres 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 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.
Kobe Franklin 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.
Chiapas and Guadalajara have settled on $1.7M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Chiapas have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Chiapas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergio Ceballos 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.
Kobe Franklin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
José Hernandez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.99. 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.
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.
Chiapas and Tijuana have settled on $1.7M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The deal with Tigres is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
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.
Pablo López 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Chiapas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergio Ceballos 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Alejandro Vera has his answer from Chiapas; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
0‑4 to Monterrey, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
The clubs have shaken hands with Guadalajara; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Everything agreed with Santos Laguna, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tijuana have kept their man, and Chiapas go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Chiapas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Pablo López 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Diego Abella
Player ratingsAlexis Melo did the work nobody counts — 6.77
“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.
Chiapas and Tigres have settled on $79.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Chiapas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The offer went to Club America 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pablo López was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Chiapas asked and Tijuana said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 86th, and Tigres spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Leon have accepted the money. What Chiapas do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Pablo López 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Chiapas has been clear about where Mauricio Hernández stands, which is more than many ever get.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Chiapas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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.
The clubs have shaken hands with Tijuana; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Monterrey have kept their man, and Chiapas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Marked 6.62 on 15 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Chiapas
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.
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.
The offer went to Monterrey 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tijuana have kept their man, and Chiapas go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Chiapas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pablo López was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Chiapas 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 asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chiapas can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Guadalajara is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
$1.7M on the table at Tijuana. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
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.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Something was said to Kobe Franklin and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Chiapas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Saldivar 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.
Juan Pablo Chávez 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Chiapas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo López 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Kobe Franklin is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Alexis Melo wants continental football; whether Chiapas can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Chiapas have done the hard part with Atlas, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Chiapas asked and Club America said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Juan Pablo Chávez 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Pablo López 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chiapas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Luis Fernando Cruz has written the date down.
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.
The deal with Veracruz is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Kobe Franklin 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Cristian Reyes is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
At 36, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
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 Jero is on it.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Chiapas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. José Saldivar 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 deal with Guadalajara is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Chiapas have gone to Monterrey with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chiapas can pretend not to have heard.
Kobe Franklin 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.
Chiapas offered $120.0K; Guadalajara 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pablo López was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Chiapas are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Luis Donaldo Hernández trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Franco Gindin has, at Chiapas, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The offer went to Santos Laguna 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.
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.
The offer went to Guadalajara 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.
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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Kevin Romero has, at Chiapas, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
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.
Kobe Franklin 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Pablo López 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.
Nobody at Chiapas 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.
In brief
The dugoutBruno Centeno knocks on the manager’s door
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pablo López was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chiapas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Carlos Rosel has written the date down.
Position 18 and 14 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.
Miguel Pabón 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Chiapas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Yonathan del Valle and Chiapas agree another 2 years.
Miguel Pabón 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Pablo López was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Diego Arteaga is 20, and Chiapas have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Chiapas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pablo López was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chiapas can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Chiapas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chiapas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Apr 2027
Words at Chiapas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo López 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 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.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Eduardo Corona left the room before anybody could ask which.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Yonathan del Valle trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
18 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Veracruz were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Chiapas is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pablo López was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
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 Yonathan del Valle.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Everybody at Chiapas saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 33 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Chiapas know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Marco Moreno’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Chiapas needing him to play as if none of it matters.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Miguel Pabón has written the date down.
6 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.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something 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 Chiapas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pablo López was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Position 18 and 10 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.
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Miguel Pabón 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Pablo López 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 happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Miguel Pabón 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Chiapas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Pablo Chávez 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.
15 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 9 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Pablo Chávez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Sergio Ceballos will call it something else in private.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pablo López was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kobe Franklin, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Eduardo Corona to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Chiapas asked and Tigres said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Pablo López 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Pablo Chávez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Marco Moreno will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Chiapas escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Two goals and a mark of 8.60 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chiapas can pretend not to have heard.
Miguel Pabón 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Chiapas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo López 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 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.
Tigres have accepted the money. What Chiapas do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Chiapas close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Chiapas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo López 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.
“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.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Guadalajara have kept their man, and Chiapas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Chiapas told Juan Pablo Chávez something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for José Juan Macías is in the works
Chiapas asked and Tigres said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Miguel Pabón 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Chiapas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo López 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chiapas can pretend not to have heard.
Miguel Pabón 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.
6 goals in one match, Marco Moreno on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Chiapas and Cruz Azul.
Everybody at Chiapas saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 6.88, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Chiapas has been clear about where Pablo López stands, which is more than many ever get.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Everybody at Chiapas saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Eduardo Corona after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer 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.
In brief
The dugoutDaniel Amador dropped after a run of poor form
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chiapas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Juan Pablo Chávez 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Pablo López was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Eduardo Corona to a room that had heard them before.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Carlos Rosel
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chiapas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
0‑3 to Atlas, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
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.
Miguel Pabón 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chiapas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Eduardo Corona left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Chiapas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Chiapas told Diego Abella something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Eduardo Corona was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Chiapas dressing room was either.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chiapas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Miguel Pabón 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.
Queretaro left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Eduardo Corona left the room before anybody could ask which.
Something was said to Alejandro Vera and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Chiapas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Marco Moreno’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Chiapas needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Shots: 9. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 63 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Juan Pablo Chávez 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.
“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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Pablo López 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.
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 Jero is on it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Queretaro in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Luis Fernando Cruz provided it, and the 8.59 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody 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 Chiapas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Eduardo Corona on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chiapas can pretend not to have heard.
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.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chiapas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Position 16 and 5 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Chiapas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Miguel Pabón 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 93 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Miguel Pabón 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 12 actions, 6.77, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Chiapas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Chiapas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Dagoberto Espinoza is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Chiapas is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Eduardo Corona after 0‑5, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Chiapas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Luis Donaldo Hernández 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Eduardo Corona after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody at Chiapas 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 used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Club America in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Pablo López 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 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.
Nobody at Chiapas is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Pablo Chávez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 17 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Marked 7.71. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Matías Gómez's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout14 Sep 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.” Eduardo Corona kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Chiapas will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
In brief
SquadMarco Moreno, 17, is the weekend’s best young player
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Chiapas can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 32 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Chiapas until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Pumas UNAM is saying, and nobody at Chiapas is enjoying the guessing.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. San Lorenzo have kept their man, and Chiapas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Pablo López 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Daniel Amador has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
20 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Chiapas have done the hard part with Pumas UNAM, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Miguel Pabón 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.
Chiapas asked and Pachuca 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 manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑4 Eduardo Corona left the room before anybody could ask which.
Everything agreed with Guadalajara, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Miguel Pabón 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Pablo López 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 Chiapas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Juan Palma 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Chiapas are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
It needed Pablo López to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Monterrey, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Eduardo Corona chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Luis Donaldo Hernández 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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Oribe Montes 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Uriel Gutierrez 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jorge Jimenez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Sebastian Pineda 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Chiapas will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Osciel De La Cruz 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Chiapas and Tigres, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Pablo López 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. Tigres have kept their man, and Chiapas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.