3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Marked 7.97. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Jonathan Pérez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Three points for Leon, 2‑1 the final word against Toluca in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Nicolás Vallejo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.13. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo López was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
6 goals and a season average of 7.22 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
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 Alvarez kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“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 The request is on a desk at Leon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Leon they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A goalkeeper's career is counted in the games nobody scored in, and Julio González now has 50 of them across 229 appearances. Nothing about that number was luck.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Jonathan Pérez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.14. 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.
Marked 8.04 — 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Eduardo Alvarez could afford to be generous.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo 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 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ismael Díaz signs something — a contract at Leon or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Emi Rodriguez’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Leon needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Leon have no good answer.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Leon. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Ismael Díaz 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.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
Nicolás Vallejo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.28. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo López was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Leon 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. Santiago Colombatto wants continental football; whether Leon can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Marked 8.27 — 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.
He has had enough of the noise. Whether Leon can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Júnior Tavares is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Júnior Tavares is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Leon is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Johan Rojas wants continental football; whether Leon can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Rodrigo 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 Julio González is on it.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Eduardo Alvarez was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Leon dressing room was either.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Pachuca in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Marked 8.45. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Leon.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Rodrigo 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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Diego Gallardo commits to Leon for another 4 years.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
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 Alvarez, on a 2‑1 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 Santiago Colombatto is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ismael Díaz signs something — a contract at Leon or anywhere else — this column belongs to 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 Leon can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Chiapas waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Leon is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Club America keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Johan Rojas 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Monterrey have kept their man, and Leon go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Nobody at Leon 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.
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.
“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 Leon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Leon close the window on a squad of their own making
10 in and 15 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Leon have done the hard part with Club America, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Leon 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.
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. 10 actions, 6.48, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Leon asked and Guadalajara 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 goal that put Monterrey ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Leon equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo López was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Diber Cambindo wants continental football; whether Leon can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Diber Cambindo. 1‑0 against Pumas UNAM, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Eduardo Alvarez could afford to be generous.
Nobody at Leon 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.
“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 Leon, and it is not being withdrawn.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Iván Rodríguez has his answer from Leon; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo 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.
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.
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 Diber Cambindo is on it.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Diber Cambindo will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Leon escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
“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 Leon hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Add another name to the list: Cruz Azul have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Jordan García. The answer from Leon has not changed — yet.
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Leon will try not to make too much of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo 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 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.
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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Santiago Colombatto wants continental football; whether Leon can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Leon asked and Monterrey said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 21 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.
It finished 2‑0, and it was Júnior Tavares’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Leon.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
Ismael Díaz was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.12. 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Eduardo Alvarez on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
The dugoutJulio González has become a man the manager trusts
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Emi Rodriguez had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The offer from Cruz Azul for Jordan García 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.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Diego Gallardo is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Nestor Guardado has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Leon have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leon can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Leon have done the hard part with Santos Laguna, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo López was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Leon 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leon can pretend not to have heard.
Jonathan Pérez 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.
Add another name to the list: Cruz Azul have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Jordan García. The answer from Leon has not changed — yet.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
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 Ramiro Árciga has written the date down.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Guadalajara waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Leon is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leon 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.” Leon have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Add another name to the list: Pachuca have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ángel Estrada. The answer from Leon has not changed — yet.
Leon asked and Pumas UNAM said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Rodrigo 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.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
Nobody at Leon will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Leon people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 Leon, and it is not being withdrawn.
He is going to Cruz Azul, the club has $4.6M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
The offer from Pumas UNAM for Jordan García 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.
Leon had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Tijuana, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Leon 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo López was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutNicolás Vallejo is still being punished for one mistake
The offer from Chiapas for Fernando Beltrán was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leon can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Valentín Gauthier will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Leon the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Diber Cambindo wants continental football; whether Leon can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Leon had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Club America, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Monterrey have kept their man, and Leon 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Leon have done the hard part with Club America, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Leon asked and Queretaro said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Rodrigo 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 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Leon know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leon can pretend not to have heard.
Fernando Beltrán was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Leon asked and Guadalajara 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 has re-ordered his thinking and Jordi Cortizo 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Leon has been clear about where Alan Medina stands, which is more than many ever get.
This is the season the town will measure the next twenty against. The trophy travels home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days ago.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
“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 Leon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Position 2, 69 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Leon will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
27 games, 1 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Leon now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Leon pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Leon they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo López was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Nicolás Vallejo is on 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 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 Leon will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismael Díaz 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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutBryan Colula knocks on the manager's door
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismael Díaz 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 Leon 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.
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 Rodrigo López has written the date down.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leon 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 Rodrigo López was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Julio González is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Leon, 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 Leon. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Leon is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ismael Díaz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Diber Cambindo wants continental football; whether Leon can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ismael Díaz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Leon will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
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 Juan José Guevara has written the date down.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 69 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
“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 Leon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Isaac Brizuela and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Rodrigo 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 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leon can pretend not to have heard.
Position 2, 69 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Fernando Beltrán 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 had been thinking. Ismael Díaz 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.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
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 Alvarez chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Dorados defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Valentín Gauthier will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Leon the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Nicolás Vallejo is on it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Dorados in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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 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 Leon will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Rodrigo 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.
He has had enough of the noise. Whether Leon can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
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.
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.
“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.
“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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Ismael Díaz 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leon can pretend not to have heard.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 15 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ismael Díaz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Club America next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Ángel Estrada 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Jhohan Romaña's mistake
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Leon have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Leon they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
6 goals in one match, Diber Cambindo on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Leon and Chiapas.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Diber Cambindo. 4‑2 against Chiapas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The unbeaten run reaches 14. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Ismael Díaz 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 finished 1‑0, and it was Diber Cambindo’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Leon.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
Diber Cambindo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. 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 the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Valentín Gauthier wants continental football; whether Leon can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Isaac Brizuela 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Leon pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Eduardo Alvarez on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leon can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Fernando Beltrán 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 Ismael Díaz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 dugout14 Feb 2028
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 Alvarez chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
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 Mauricio Isais is on it.
12 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 2 signed and 5 gone
That is the business done at Leon 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.
8.18. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo López was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Israel Luna was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
The dugoutThe team sheet said everything about Alan Medina
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leon can pretend not to have heard.
7.82, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Leon is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Ismael Díaz 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 Leon 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.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Nicolás Fonseca scored, was marked 7.65, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Leon offered $200.0K; Monterrey 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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Ismael Díaz 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.
Kevin Palacios 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The offer from Chiapas for Sebastián Santos was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leon can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Leon and Monterrey, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Leon have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Leon, and it is not being withdrawn.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alan Medina and Leon agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Ismael Díaz 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.
He is 23 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.
“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 Leon, and it is not being withdrawn.
49 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Leon have had the benefit of it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Leon they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Tigres; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Fernando Beltrán 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.
He is 23 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Diber Cambindo. 2‑0 against Atlas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismael Díaz is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Leon can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Marked 7.97 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Leon had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout20 Dec 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 Alvarez, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Nobody at Leon 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.
1 for Rafael Fernández, marked 7.99, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Leon can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismael Díaz 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rafael Fernández. 1‑0 against Veracruz, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Mauricio Isais 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jordi Cortizo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
39 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leon can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Valentín Gauthier will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Leon the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Sebastián Santos 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Leon has been clear about where Santiago Colombatto stands, which is more than many ever get.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.85 for the rest of it.
Sebastián Vegas was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismael Díaz 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.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Fernando Beltrán. 1‑0 against Dorados, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
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 Alvarez kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
Position 2, 33 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Leon have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
7.21, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
The first defeat in 6 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Guadalajara; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
12 combined actions and 6.76. 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.
Rafael Fernández 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 Alvarez after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Isaac Brizuela 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 Nov 2027
Rodrigo 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 is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Leon told Iván Rodríguez something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Ismael Díaz was the best thing in any of them.
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.
Guadalajara next, and one man in the Leon dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
25 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
6 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.
“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 Leon, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Leon is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Fernando Beltrán 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 Nov 2027
Ismael Díaz 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.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.75 for the rest of it.
7.84, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Fernando Beltrán 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Ismael Díaz 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.
23 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Leon lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
8.32. 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.
Mauricio Isais 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 Rodrigo López was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutJordi Cortizo dropped after a run of poor form
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Leon lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.99 for the rest of it.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Ismael Díaz 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.
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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Diber Cambindo in the middle of it, and Morelia unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Leon lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Leon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Leon they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Leon can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Sebastián Vegas 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Ismael Díaz 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Diber Cambindo signs something — a contract at Leon or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutBryan Colula has become a man the manager trusts
22 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The words a physio says slowly. 47 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 12 combined actions and a mark of 6.88, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Santiago Colombatto is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The words a physio says slowly. 55 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.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Fernando Beltrán scored, was marked 7.81, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ismael Díaz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Isaac Brizuela 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.
21 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The words a physio says slowly. 63 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.53 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Nicolás Fonseca scored, was marked 7.69, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ismael Díaz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Leon asked and Monterrey said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Julio González
71 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Leon lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leon can pretend not to have heard.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Rodrigo López is living that version at Leon, and it tends to show in the first month.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Valentín Gauthier will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Leon the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Sebastián Vegas 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.
Leon 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.
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.
In brief
SquadWords at Leon training over how hard people work
81 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Leon lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leon can pretend not to have heard.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Leon have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Leon close the window on a squad of their own making
12 in and 28 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.
Fernando Beltrán 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 Ismael Díaz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
20 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
88 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Leon lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Leon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Leon they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismael Díaz 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Pumas UNAM have kept their man, and Leon go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
19 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
95 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Leon lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Leon have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Marked 8.26 — 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.
“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 Leon, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Leon they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The deal that would have taken Óscar Jiménez to Club America has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Leon with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Ismael Díaz 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 is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Valentín Gauthier wants continental football; whether Leon can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leon can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Emi Rodriguez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Leon the goodbyes have quietly begun.
He is going to Pumas UNAM, the club has $5.6M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Leon 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 Leon can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ismael Díaz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Leon asked and Monterrey said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Leon asked and Wolverhampton said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Chances created: 12. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Leon have lost him in all but the paperwork.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismael Díaz 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Daniel Marquez 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.
“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 Leon, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Cruz Azul for Óscar Jiménez 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.
Fernando Beltrán 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 Ismael Díaz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Add another name to the list: Veracruz have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Édgar Guerra. The answer from Leon has not changed — yet.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Diber Cambindo signs something — a contract at Leon or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
Santiago Colombatto has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Leon 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 Leon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Óscar Jiménez again, and this time the name on the line is Cruz Azul. Leon are listening politely and promising nothing.
9 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Leon have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Position 3, 67 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking 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 Leon 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 Juan Pablo Domínguez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
32 appearances and 3 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
7 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.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Rafael Fernández is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Chiapas waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Leon is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leon can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismael Díaz 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.
Rafael Fernández 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 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.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Leon have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
“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 Leon, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Tijuana 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.
Leon 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.
Sebastián Santos 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 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José David Ramírez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutJhohan Romaña knocks on the manager's door
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leon can pretend not to have heard.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Leon will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fernando Beltrán 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 Juan Pablo Domínguez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The phone has started ringing about Óscar Jiménez again, and this time the name on the line is Cruz Azul. Leon are listening politely and promising nothing.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Leon can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
6 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.
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 Julio González is on it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Leon will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Leon, and it is not being withdrawn.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
“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 Leon hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Everything agreed with Pumas UNAM, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 22 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.
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
Guadalajara go through and Leon go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
16 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Leon have had the benefit of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José David Ramírez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
28 appearances and 0 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
Fernando Beltrán 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 Ismael Díaz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Édgar Guerra trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Cervantes has written the date down.
Ismael Díaz 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 Leon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Leon. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
4 goals in 26 games at Morelia — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Leon updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
In brief
SquadSebastián Santos is training like a man with a point to make
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Pérez 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 Tahiel Jiménez is on it.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad3 May 2027
Ismael Díaz 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 young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Leon who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Isaac Brizuela 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 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Julio González is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Leon told Óscar Jiménez something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Nobody at Leon 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Pablo Domínguez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Bryan Colula is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Leon, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Fernando Beltrán 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.
“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 Leon, and 0 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
Nobody at Leon 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Leon, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Pérez 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.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Diber Cambindo signs something — a contract at Leon or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tahiel Jiménez provided it, and the 8.73 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
6 goals in one match, Juan Pablo Domínguez on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Leon and Queretaro.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Ismael Díaz 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.
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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Valentín Gauthier wants continental football; whether Leon can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
16 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Diber Cambindo wants continental football; whether Leon can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leon 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 Ismael Díaz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Sebastián Santos was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Pérez 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 Leon 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ismael Díaz signs something — a contract at Leon or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 5 on 61 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
15 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Fernando Beltrán wants continental football; whether Leon can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismael Díaz is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Tahiel Jiménez 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Tahiel Jiménez had Leon level again within 4 minutes, and Guadalajara never got to play with a lead at all.
“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 Leon, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
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.
Isaac Brizuela 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 dugout15 Mar 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Eduardo Alvarez to a room that had heard them before.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Leon has been clear about where Paul Bellón stands, which is more than many ever get.
“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 Leon know it.
In brief
The dugoutJulio González has become a man the manager trusts
14 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Leon will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking 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 Leon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Leon pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Jhohan Romaña is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“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 Leon hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Fernando Beltrán was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Pablo Domínguez 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.
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Fernando Beltrán 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 had been thinking. Juan Pablo Domínguez 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Diber Cambindo. 1‑0 against Morelia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“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 Leon, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Leon told Jhohan Romaña something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Nobody at Leon 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Pérez 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Eduardo Alvarez after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“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 Leon will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leon can pretend not to have heard.
12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Óscar Jiménez reports back to Leon with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Pablo Domínguez 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Juan Pablo Domínguez. 2‑1 against Puebla, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.28 — 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 is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Valentín Gauthier wants continental football; whether Leon can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 2 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Leon 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Diber Cambindo wants continental football; whether Leon can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Pablo Domínguez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Leon asked and Pumas UNAM said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Two goals and a mark of 8.43 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fernando Beltrán 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.
“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.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Ismael Díaz was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.23. 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 91. Cruz Azul had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
The offer from Tijuana for Ismael Díaz 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Juan Pablo Domínguez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Isaac Brizuela 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.
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 Julio González is on it.
The first defeat in 18 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Pumas UNAM; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Pablo Domínguez 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.
Leon asked and Guadalajara said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Leon will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Leon can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
The deal with Santos Laguna 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.
Fernando Beltrán 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.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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.
Fernando Beltrán 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.
At 19 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Pablo Domínguez 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.
A point taken on 85 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
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.
15 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A brace, and Ismael Díaz takes the afternoon — 8.28
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ismael Díaz provided it, and the 8.28 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Pablo Domínguez 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.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
A 2‑0 win over Santos Laguna, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Sebastián Santos and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
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 Alvarez, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutJhohan Romaña knocks on the manager’s door
The phone has started ringing about Jordan García again, and this time the name on the line is Avaí. Leon are listening politely and promising nothing.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Leon can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leon this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
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.
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 is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Diber Cambindo was the best thing in any of them.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Jhohan Romaña
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Leon heard it as anything else.
Fernando Beltrán 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.