Puebla U18

Mexican Liga MX U18
17 Feb 2027
Wednesday
Process
29 Edition

The Puebla Chronicle

15 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

No mercy from Puebla

Veracruz will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Puebla were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.

Player ratings

Mario Anaya, 21, steals the show — 7.66

Marked 7.66 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.

Match

Puebla cannot stop winning

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.

Squad

A falling-out at Puebla

Ignacio Maestro Puch and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The terraces

Puebla supporters have found a favourite in Mario Anaya

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Mario Anaya 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.

Player ratings

One of those days for Kevin Velasco

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.51, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Match

Puebla settle it inside twenty minutes

2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Veracruz spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Emiliano Gómez at his very best

Marked 8.20. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Puebla.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Ignacio Maestro Puch at his very best

Marked 8.03. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Puebla.

In brief

Back issues
28 Edition

The Puebla Chronicle

8 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Emiliano Gómez

Successful dribbles: 51. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Ignacio Maestro Puch in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Puebla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets

Puebla rebuffed over Jorge Luque

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Deportivo Riestra have kept their man, and Puebla go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Market

One of our own: Roberto Romo joins the Puebla first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Roberto Romo is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Match

Puebla get the job done against Queretaro

A 1‑0 win over Queretaro, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Mathías Tomás

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.

Squad

Eduardo Mustre signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Eduardo Mustre commits to Puebla for another 3 years.

Squad

Lucas Camilo named in the team of the month

A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Lucas Camilo is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.

The dugout

A satisfied Alexis Araujo

“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Alexis Araujo could afford to be generous.

In brief

27 Edition

The Puebla Chronicle

1 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Emiliano Gómez beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 50. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

The dugout

Carlos Baltazar: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Puebla have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Boardroom

Puebla close the window on a squad of their own making

1 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.

Market

Only the photograph left for Juan Gómez

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Juan Gómez will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Puebla the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Transfer targets

Phillipe Gabriel will not be coming to Puebla

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Vasco da Gama is saying, and nobody at Puebla is enjoying the guessing.

Squad

Tempers go at Puebla

Ignacio Maestro Puch 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 terraces

One of their own: Ignacio Maestro Puch

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.

Match

Puebla find a way past Dorados

Dorados made Puebla work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Player ratings

Kevin Velasco in the eights

A performance of 8.41 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

In brief

26 Edition

The Puebla Chronicle

25 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Emiliano Gómez beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 34. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

The dugout

Lucas Cavallini: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Puebla have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Transfer targets

Phillipe Gabriel due for a Puebla medical

Everything agreed with Vasco da Gama, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Match

4 matches without a win for Puebla

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Puebla are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Words exchanged at Puebla

Ignacio Maestro Puch 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.

Match

Puebla cannot find the net

3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.

Match

Puebla come up short against Guadalajara

Guadalajara left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

Luis Gabriel Rey gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

Alexis Araujo answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

In brief

25 Edition

The Puebla Chronicle

18 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Juan Gómez has said yes to Dorados

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Puebla have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Market

Leonardo Jiménez puts it in writing

“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 Puebla, and it is not being withdrawn.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Álvaro Banquero

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Puebla have done the hard part with Independiente, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Kevin Velasco

Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

A falling-out at Puebla

Ignacio Maestro Puch and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Alexis Araujo on the draw

“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Lucas Cavallini

“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.

Match

Puebla draw a blank against Leon

The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Leon defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.

The dugout

When it matters, Alejandro Organista plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

24 Edition

The Puebla Chronicle

11 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

The cup run ends for Puebla

1‑2 against Tigres, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.

Player ratings

Emiliano Gómez was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 32. 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.

Player ratings

Vintage Lucas Cavallini — 7.82

At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.82, and nobody on the pitch better.

Squad

Ignacio Maestro Puch in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Puebla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

The step up is real for Denilson Paz

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.

Transfer targets

Puebla rebuffed over Mateo Morro

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Independiente have kept their man, and Puebla go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

The dugout

No hiding place for Jesús Iván Rodríguez

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jesús Iván Rodríguez, and the manager let it.

Squad

Puebla lose Carlos Baltazar

25 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Market

One of our own: Nestor Gallardo joins the Puebla first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Nestor Gallardo is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

In brief

  • Match Toluca take the points off Puebla
  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • Boardroom Puebla bank $300.0K from an old deal
23 Edition

The Puebla Chronicle

4 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Alan Arboleda keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Puebla may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Market

Puebla turn down Chiapas for Juan Gómez

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Player ratings

Mathías Tomás runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Tempers go at Puebla

Ignacio Maestro Puch 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.

Transfer targets

Puebla rebuffed over Denis Bouanga

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Los Angeles Football Club have kept their man, and Puebla go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

The terraces

Puebla supporters have found a favourite in Ignacio Maestro Puch

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ignacio Maestro Puch 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.

Match

Puebla see off Chiapas

Three points for Puebla, 1‑0 the final word against Chiapas in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Squad

Leonardo Jiménez has improved at 24, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

Squad

Carlos Baltazar signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Carlos Baltazar and Puebla agree another 3 years.

In brief

22 Edition

The Puebla Chronicle

28 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Jorge Hernández, 38, rolls back the years — 7.84

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.84 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Match

The drought breaks for Puebla

7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Morelia were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.

Squad

Words exchanged at Puebla

Ignacio Maestro Puch 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.

Squad

The step up is real for Mario Anaya

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.

Match

Puebla get the job done against Morelia

A 3‑1 win over Morelia, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Kevin Velasco

Marked 8.35 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

Player ratings

Mathías Tomás was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.30. 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.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Emiliano Gómez

Marked 8.11 — 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 dugout

Alexis Araujo has his say

“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Alexis Araujo on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.

In brief

21 Edition

The Puebla Chronicle

21 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Eduardo Ramsés Navarro out for 17 days

17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Puebla lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

The wait goes on for Puebla

7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Squad

A falling-out at Puebla

Ignacio Maestro Puch and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Mathías Tomás wants European nights

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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Emiliano Gómez

Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

The dugout

Juan Pablo Vargas gets it from the manager

“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.

Match

Pachuca take the points off Puebla

Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

Alexis Araujo answers for it

“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.

The dugout

Somebody else is better right now than Jorge Torres Nilo

The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.

In brief

20 Edition

The Puebla Chronicle

14 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Eduardo Ramsés Navarro

24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Puebla lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Emiliano Gómez

Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

6 matches without a win for Puebla

The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Puebla are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Ignacio Maestro Puch in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Puebla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Raul Castillo’s goal not enough for Puebla

Raul Castillo scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Club America, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

Squad

Puebla count the cost of losing Carlos Baltazar

60 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

The dugout

No hiding place for José Pachuca

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to José Pachuca, and the manager let it.

Squad

Puebla count the cost of losing Luis Guardado

20 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Alexis Araujo to a room that had heard them before.

In brief

19 Edition

The Puebla Chronicle

7 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Emiliano Gómez beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 46. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

The knee: Eduardo Ramsés Navarro out for 32 days

32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Puebla lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

5 matches without a win for Puebla

The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Puebla are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Tempers go at Puebla

Ignacio Maestro Puch 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.

Squad

Leonardo Jiménez stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Leonardo Jiménez and Puebla agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

A place in the month's best eleven for Lucas Camilo

Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Lucas Camilo has come out of that comparison in the side, and Puebla have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.

The dugout

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.” Alexis Araujo chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.

Looking ahead

A test against the best for Puebla

The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Club America.

The dugout

When it matters, Jesús Iván Rodríguez plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

18 Edition

The Puebla Chronicle

30 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Eduardo Ramsés Navarro

40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Puebla lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Player ratings

Kevin Velasco runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

No end in sight to Puebla's wait for a win

4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Puebla has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

Words exchanged at Puebla

Ignacio Maestro Puch 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 terraces

One of their own: Ignacio Maestro Puch

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.

Player ratings

Ignacio Maestro Puch was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.04. 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.

Squad

Alan Arboleda 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.

Player ratings

Alejandro Organista will replay that one

1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.

Match

Puebla and Cruz Azul take a point apiece

It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

In brief

17 Edition

The Puebla Chronicle

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Eduardo Ramsés Navarro

49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Puebla lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Player ratings

Emiliano Gómez was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 33. 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Puebla

Ignacio Maestro Puch and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

The half-term report on Puebla

Position 11, 20 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Alexis Araujo was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Puebla dressing room was either.

Match

Puebla and Monterrey cancel each other out

Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Monterrey came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.

The dugout

The form table has caught Alan Arboleda

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.

Looking ahead

A reunion for Luis Gabriel Rey

He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Cruz Azul in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.

Squad

Alan Arboleda: “I am not a substitute”

“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 Puebla will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.

In brief

16 Edition

The Puebla Chronicle

16 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Eduardo Ramsés Navarro

56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Puebla lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Emiliano Gómez

Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Ignacio Maestro Puch in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Puebla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Kevin Velasco in the eights

A performance of 8.40 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Match

Puebla rescue it on 96 minutes

Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 96. Pumas UNAM had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.

Match

Puebla and Pumas UNAM take a point apiece

It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

The dugout

No hiding place for Eduardo Mustre

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Eduardo Mustre, and the manager let it.

The dugout

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.” Alexis Araujo chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.

Squad

Eduardo Mustre: “I am not a substitute”

“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 Puebla will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.

In brief

15 Edition

The Puebla Chronicle

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Eduardo Ramsés Navarro

63 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Puebla lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Tempers go at Puebla

Ignacio Maestro Puch 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.

Market

Erick Marquez steps up from the Puebla academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Erick Marquez has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Match

Tigres take the points off Puebla

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Alejandro Organista signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alejandro Organista commits to Puebla for another 3 years.

The dugout

Alexis Araujo: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

Squad

Words at Puebla training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alan Arboleda 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Alan Arboleda

“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 dugout

Jesús Iván Rodríguez gets picked when it counts

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 Jesús Iván Rodríguez is on it.

In brief

14 Edition

The Puebla Chronicle

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Jesús Iván Rodríguez decides it from twelve yards

3 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Eduardo Ramsés Navarro

71 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Puebla lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

Puebla march on in the cup

Monterrey are out and Puebla go through, 0‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.

Match

Puebla tear Atlas apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Atlas, and it could have been more.

Player ratings

Emiliano Gómez scores twice — 8.29

Two goals and a mark of 8.29 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

Raul Castillo beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Words exchanged at Puebla

Ignacio Maestro Puch 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 terraces

One of their own: Ignacio Maestro Puch

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.

Player ratings

The kick that got away from Lucas Camilo

Twelve yards, a goalkeeper guessing, and it still did not go in. He will take the next one, and every soul in the ground will hold their breath.

In brief

13 Edition

The Puebla Chronicle

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Eduardo Ramsés Navarro damages knee ligaments — 78 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 78 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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Emiliano Gómez

Successful dribbles: 36. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

The dugout

Rodrigo Parra: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Puebla have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

A falling-out at Puebla

Ignacio Maestro Puch and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Ignacio Maestro Puch the difference as Puebla beat Santos Laguna

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ignacio Maestro Puch. 1‑0 against Santos Laguna, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Player ratings

Ignacio Maestro Puch was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.03. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

Squad

Puebla are still strangers to each other

14 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.

The dugout

A satisfied Alexis Araujo

“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Alexis Araujo could afford to be generous.

Looking ahead

Alonso Ramírez goes back to face Atlas

Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Alonso Ramírez’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Puebla needing him to play as if none of it matters.

In brief

12 Edition

The Puebla Chronicle

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Eduardo Ramsés Navarro

86 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Puebla lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Player ratings

Emiliano Gómez beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Ignacio Maestro Puch in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Puebla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Puebla may not be able to give Mathías Tomás what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Mathías Tomás wants continental football; whether Puebla can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad

200 appearances for Kevin Velasco

200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.

Squad

Mario Anaya signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mario Anaya commits to Puebla for another 3 years.

The dugout

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.” Alexis Araujo chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.

Match

Puebla draw a blank against Veracruz

The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Veracruz defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.

Player ratings

Ignacio Maestro Puch could have had three

6 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.

In brief

11 Edition

The Puebla Chronicle

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Eduardo Ramsés Navarro out for 95 days

95 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Puebla lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

A fracture rules Alonso Ramírez out for 17 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Puebla will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Player ratings

Emiliano Gómez beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 29. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Tempers go at Puebla

Ignacio Maestro Puch 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.

Squad

The step up is real for Denilson Paz

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.

Match

Puebla come up short against Queretaro

Queretaro left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Market

One of our own: Jose Salcedo joins the Puebla first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jose Salcedo is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market

Puebla promote Jesus Reyes from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Jesus Reyes 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 dugout

The manager’s verdict

“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Alexis Araujo left the room before anybody could ask which.

In brief

10 Edition

The Puebla Chronicle

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

No mercy from Puebla

Dorados will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Puebla were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.

Squad

Alonso Ramírez breaks a bone — 26 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 26 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Player ratings

Both of them Ignacio Maestro Puch's — 9.46

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.46, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings

Emiliano Gómez scores twice — 8.30

Two goals and a mark of 8.30 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Squad

Words exchanged at Puebla

Ignacio Maestro Puch 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.

Squad

Real improvement from Mario Anaya at Puebla

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mario Anaya is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Ignacio Maestro Puch

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.

Match

Puebla settle it inside twenty minutes

2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Dorados spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.

Player ratings

One of those days for Kevin Velasco

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.17, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

In brief

9 Edition

The Puebla Chronicle

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Puebla taken apart

0‑3 to Guadalajara, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.

Player ratings

Emiliano Gómez was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 33. 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Puebla

Ignacio Maestro Puch and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

3 matches without a goal for Puebla

The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Juan Pablo Vargas

“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.

Squad

Juan Gómez has improved at 25, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

Squad

Appearance number 100 for Jesús Iván Rodríguez

100 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.

Boardroom

Inquest at Puebla

The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.

Squad

14 new faces, and Puebla are still learning each other

A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.

In brief

8 Edition

The Puebla Chronicle

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Kevin Velasco was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 29. 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.

Squad

Ignacio Maestro Puch in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Puebla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

A bad afternoon for Puebla against Leon

0‑2 to Leon, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

José Pachuca gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

Alexis Araujo answers for it

“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.

Looking ahead

Luis Gabriel Rey goes back to face Guadalajara

Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Luis Gabriel Rey’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Puebla needing him to play as if none of it matters.

The dugout

Iker Moreno does not fit this one

Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.

Squad

Jorge Torres Nilo makes the position his own

At 38 he is in the side on merit and somebody else is watching. Places at Puebla are won quietly and lost loudly, and this one was won.

The dugout

The manager makes Eduardo Mustre a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Puebla. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

In brief

7 Edition

The Puebla Chronicle

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Emiliano Gómez

Successful dribbles: 37. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Tempers go at Puebla

Ignacio Maestro Puch 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.

Market

One of our own: Luis Guardado joins the Puebla first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Luis Guardado is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market

Uriel Guardado steps up from the Puebla academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Uriel Guardado has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

The dugout

Lucas Camilo gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Alexis Araujo was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Puebla dressing room was either.

Squad

The division's best last weekend was a Puebla man

It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Ignacio Maestro Puch was the best thing in any of them.

Match

Puebla and Toluca cancel each other out

Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Toluca came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.

Looking ahead

A reunion for Oscar Villa

He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Leon in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.

In brief

6 Edition

The Puebla Chronicle

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Puebla run riot against Chiapas

5‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Squad

A day Ignacio Maestro Puch will not forget

3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.

Player ratings

Both of them Emiliano Gómez's — 8.15

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.15, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Boardroom

Window shuts: 18 in, 1 out at Puebla

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Squad

Words exchanged at Puebla

Ignacio Maestro Puch 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.

Player ratings

Ignacio Maestro Puch was on a different afternoon to everybody else

9.67. 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.

Player ratings

Mathías Tomás runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Transfer targets

All Boys tell Puebla: Lukas Ramil Sauer is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Player ratings

One of those days for Kevin Velasco

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.27, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

In brief

5 Edition

The Puebla Chronicle

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Juan Gómez hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Puebla can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Brayan Garnica moves on

Veracruz pay $2.4M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.

Market

Puebla turn down Atlas for Fernando Monarrez

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

A falling-out at Puebla

Ignacio Maestro Puch and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

Puebla rebuffed over Jorge Luque

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Deportivo Riestra have kept their man, and Puebla go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Match

Puebla find a way past Morelia

Morelia made Puebla work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Player ratings

Kevin Velasco 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.

Player ratings

Emiliano Gómez was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.02. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Iker Moreno

“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.

In brief

4 Edition

The Puebla Chronicle

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to Puebla's wait for a win

4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Puebla has to find a result from somewhere.

Squad

Ignacio Maestro Puch in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Puebla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Mathías Tomás has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Puebla can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Ángel González

Puebla asked and Libertad said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Market

Veracruz are about to pick up the phone

A conversation is coming this week. Puebla will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.

Match

A bad afternoon for Puebla against Pachuca

0‑1 to Pachuca, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

100 appearances for Ignacio Maestro Puch

100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.

Player ratings

Owen González beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Alexis Araujo left the room before anybody could ask which.

In brief

3 Edition

The Puebla Chronicle

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Puebla taken apart

0‑3 to Club America, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.

Player ratings

Emiliano Gómez beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 31. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Market

Puebla say no — this time

The offer from Veracruz for José Pachuca 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.

Transfer targets

Matheus Nascimento turns down Puebla

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: San Diego Football Club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Squad

Tempers go at Puebla

Ignacio Maestro Puch 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.

Transfer targets

Puebla baulk at the price for Aarón Arredondo

Atlas wanted more than $140.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Transfer targets

Puebla rebuffed over Denis Bouanga

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Los Angeles Football Club have kept their man, and Puebla go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

The dugout

Luis Gabriel Rey gets it from the manager

“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.

Boardroom

Nobody left the Puebla dressing room in a hurry

The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.

In brief

  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • Transfer targets A loan move for Lukas Ramil Sauer is in the works
  • The dugout Somebody else is better right now than Mateo González
2 Edition

The Puebla Chronicle

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Transfer targets

Iván Angulo will not be coming to Puebla

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Orlando City is saying, and nobody at Puebla is enjoying the guessing.

Squad

Juan Pablo Vargas signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Juan Pablo Vargas commits to Puebla for another 3 years.

Squad

A falling-out at Puebla

Ignacio Maestro Puch and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

An offer of $140.0K for Aarón Arredondo

Puebla have gone to Atlas with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.

Transfer targets

Door shut on André Gomes

Puebla asked and Columbus Crew 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 terraces

One of their own: Ignacio Maestro Puch

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.

Market

One of our own: Erick Romo joins the Puebla first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Erick Romo is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market

Luis Sanchez steps up from the Puebla academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Luis Sanchez has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Market

Puebla promote Guillermo Salcedo from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Guillermo Salcedo 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.

In brief

1 Edition

The Puebla Chronicle

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Juan Gómez puts it in writing

“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 Puebla, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

José Pachuca stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” José Pachuca and Puebla agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Words exchanged at Puebla

Ignacio Maestro Puch 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.

Transfer targets

Puebla rebuffed over Pedro Silva Torrejón

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Gimnasia La Plata have kept their man, and Puebla go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Ignacio Maestro Puch

Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

A bad afternoon for Puebla against Cruz Azul

0‑1 to Cruz Azul, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Market

Nobody at Puebla has picked up the phone to José Pachuca

61 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Puebla

11 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 dugout

Alexis Araujo: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

In brief