From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Carlos Baltazar out for 26 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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Emiliano Gómez
18 goals and a season average of 7.29 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad1 Feb 2027
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 targets1 Feb 2027
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.
The terraces1 Feb 2027
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.
Match30 Jan 2027
It finished 2‑0, and it was Emiliano Gómez’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Puebla.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
A performance of 8.67 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Fernando Madrigal 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Jan 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad25 Jan 2027
34 days out for Carlos Baltazar after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Puebla will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A season average of 7.27 with 17 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Defensa y Justicia is saying, and nobody at Puebla is enjoying the guessing.
Match23 Jan 2027
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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
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 dugout25 Jan 2027
“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.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
A loan move for Jorge Luque is in the works
Puebla have made the call to Deportivo Riestra. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Match23 Jan 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Guadalajara leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jan 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad18 Jan 2027
41 days out for Carlos Baltazar after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Puebla will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market18 Jan 2027
“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 targets18 Jan 2027
Puebla had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Independiente, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad18 Jan 2027
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 targets18 Jan 2027
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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
A loan move for Josh Cohen is in the works
Puebla have made the call to Chicago Fire. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Defensa y Justicia have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Nobody at Puebla 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Jan 2027
Nowhere to hide for Puebla
1‑4 against Toluca, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match6 Jan 2027
The cup run ends for Puebla
0‑1 against Guadalajara, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Carlos Baltazar out for 48 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Puebla have done the hard part with Veracruz, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Emiliano Gómez
16 goals and a season average of 7.25 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad11 Jan 2027
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 targets11 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Libertad have kept their man, and Puebla go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match2 Jan 2027
4‑0, and Ignacio Maestro Puch took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Puebla tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad4 Jan 2027
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. Puebla will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.87 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad4 Jan 2027
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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Denilson Paz is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Charlotte Football Club have kept their man, and Puebla go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces4 Jan 2027
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.
Market4 Jan 2027
Add another name to the list: Chiapas have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Juan Gómez. The answer from Puebla has not changed — yet.
Match2 Jan 2027
Puebla settle it inside twenty minutes
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Chiapas spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Dec 2026
Puebla strike at the death to beat Morelia
There were 88 minutes on the clock and Morelia had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Puebla did not stop to explain themselves.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“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.
Match26 Dec 2026
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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
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 ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Dec 2026
15 goals and a season average of 7.23. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
The terraces28 Dec 2026
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.
Match26 Dec 2026
A 1‑0 win over Morelia, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Puebla
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fernando Madrigal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Dec 2026
Chastening afternoon for Puebla
A 0‑7 beating by Pachuca was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match19 Dec 2026
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.
Match19 Dec 2026
Puebla leaking at the back
7 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad21 Dec 2026
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.
Match19 Dec 2026
Nobody could stop scoring
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Puebla and Pachuca in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Market21 Dec 2026
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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Beaten 7 times, 3 saves, and an afternoon that will go on his record whether it was his fault or the defence’s. It is the quiet unfairness of the position.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Fernando Madrigal 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Erik Pimentel, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match12 Dec 2026
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.
Match12 Dec 2026
Puebla are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad14 Dec 2026
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.
Match12 Dec 2026
Club America left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Puebla
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fernando Madrigal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Dec 2026
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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
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.
Match5 Dec 2026
Puebla are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Emiliano Gómez
14 goals and a season average of 7.23 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match5 Dec 2026
A bad afternoon for Puebla against Tijuana
1‑2 to Tijuana, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Puebla
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fernando Madrigal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Emiliano Mayola
“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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Erik Pimentel 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.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Angel Ochoa after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Nov 2026
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match28 Nov 2026
0‑3 to Cruz Azul, 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
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.
Match28 Nov 2026
No clean sheets in sight for Puebla
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Fernando Madrigal 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
“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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Doors closed at Puebla
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Angel Ochoa left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad23 Nov 2026
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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
13 goals and a season average of 7.23. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.33 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Fernando Madrigal 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 ratings23 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Emiliano Gómez at his very best
Marked 8.09. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Puebla.
Match21 Nov 2026
Late, late show earns Puebla a point
Minute 93, against Monterrey, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Owen González, and the manager let it.
Match23 Nov 2026
The half-term report on Puebla
Position 9, 24 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Match14 Nov 2026
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 12 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad16 Nov 2026
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.
Match14 Nov 2026
Beaten 3‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match14 Nov 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Puebla and Pumas UNAM, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Emiliano Gómez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.48. 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Emiliano Gómez
12 goals and a season average of 7.20 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match7 Nov 2026
Still nobody has beaten Puebla
The unbeaten run reaches 12. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad9 Nov 2026
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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
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 dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Emiliano Mayola, and the manager let it.
Market9 Nov 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Miguel Rodriguez 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.
Market9 Nov 2026
One of our own: Ivan Lozano joins the Puebla first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ivan Lozano is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Puebla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fernando Madrigal 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
A 2‑2 draw with Tigres leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Half-satisfied: Angel Ochoa on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match28 Oct 2026
Puebla march on in the cup
Monterrey are out and Puebla go through, 2‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.80 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A brace, and Alejandro Organista takes the afternoon — 8.15
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alejandro Organista provided it, and the 8.15 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Nobody wants to play Puebla right now
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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
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 terraces2 Nov 2026
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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ignacio Maestro Puch. 2‑0 against Atlas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Oct 2026
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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Whatever happens, Puebla do not lose
9 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
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.
Match24 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Emiliano Gómez’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Puebla.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.34, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Fernando Madrigal 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 ratings26 Oct 2026
18 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mario Anaya commits to Puebla for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match17 Oct 2026
Whatever happens, Puebla do not lose
8 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
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.
Market19 Oct 2026
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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.34 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad19 Oct 2026
200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Emiliano Gómez at his very best
Marked 8.30. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Puebla.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Puebla
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fernando Madrigal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match17 Oct 2026
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match10 Oct 2026
Whatever happens, Puebla do not lose
7 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Mario Anaya is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Diego Moreno 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Fernando Madrigal 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
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 dugout12 Oct 2026
Angel Ochoa: “We have to be better”
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Oct 2026
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.
Match3 Oct 2026
A 3‑2 win over Dorados, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Match3 Oct 2026
Whatever happens, Puebla do not lose
6 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.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 8.40. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Puebla.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Late improvement for Juan Gómez
At 25 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 8.23 — 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 ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 8.17 — 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 ratings5 Oct 2026
Mathías Tomás 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Sep 2026
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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Guadalajara made Puebla work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 8.62 — 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 ratings28 Sep 2026
Emiliano Gómez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.45. 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Puebla
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fernando Madrigal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Sep 2026
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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Emiliano Mayola, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Angel Ochoa: “That is the standard”
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad21 Sep 2026
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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Erik Pimentel, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Puebla
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fernando Madrigal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 7.79 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Puebla had the best player on the pitch.
Match19 Sep 2026
Puebla and Leon 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Half-satisfied: Angel Ochoa on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Owen González asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Sebastián López
18 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
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 targets14 Sep 2026
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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market14 Sep 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Uriel Jimenez 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ivan Gallardo 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Three points for Puebla, 1‑0 the final word against Toluca in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Puebla
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mathías Tomás was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Angel Ochoa could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
27 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 18 in, 0 out at Puebla
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mathías Tomás. 3‑1 against Chiapas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Danubio have kept their man, and Puebla go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
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.
Match5 Sep 2026
The drought breaks for Puebla
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Chiapas were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Puebla
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fernando Madrigal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Aug 2026
34 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match29 Aug 2026
The wait goes on for Puebla
5 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
Puebla say no — this time
The offer from Santos Laguna for Fernando Monarrez 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Puebla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fernando Madrigal 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 dugout31 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Danubio: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Aug 2026
“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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The deal with Independiente 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
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.
Market24 Aug 2026
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 targets24 Aug 2026
Puebla asked and Santos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match22 Aug 2026
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Erik Pimentel
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Columbus Crew is saying, and nobody at Puebla is enjoying the guessing.
Squad17 Aug 2026
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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Club America left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Puebla
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fernando Madrigal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad17 Aug 2026
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Puebla are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Angel Ochoa to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 Aug 2026
1‑4 to Tijuana, 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The deal with Columbus Crew died in the treatment room. Nobody will say what was found and everybody in the game will find out by Friday.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Juan Pablo Vargas commits to Puebla for another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
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 targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Belgrano have kept their man, and Puebla go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Gabriel Araujo 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Santiago Gallardo is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Talleres have kept their man, and Puebla go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
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.
Match1 Aug 2026
Cruz Azul left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market3 Aug 2026
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
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 dugout3 Aug 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Puebla have made the call to Columbus Crew. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.