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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A season average of 7.39 with 12 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Silva 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.
21 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“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 The request is on a desk at Pumas UNAM, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Guillermo Martínez provided it, and the 8.54 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Nahuel Brunet is living that version at Pumas UNAM, and it tends to show in the first month.
He is going to Fenerbahce, the club has $9.8M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Piero Quispe was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
SquadDefences have started doubling up on Hugo Camberos
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Pablo Lara: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
The offer from Cruz Azul for Hugo Camberos 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.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Hugo Camberos did not need any: 8.47, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
25 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.
20 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
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. Pumas UNAM will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pumas UNAM can pretend not to have heard.
Piero Quispe was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Leo Suárez wants continental football; whether Pumas UNAM can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Silva 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.
19 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.62, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
4 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
18 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Guillermo Martínez provided it, and the 8.66 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pumas UNAM have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
Hugo Camberos, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.16
A mark of 8.16 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
25 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.
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.
Rubén Duarte 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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Silva 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.
Hugo Camberos, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.85
A mark of 8.85 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Pumas UNAM heard it as anything else.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Piero Quispe wants continental football; whether Pumas UNAM can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Piero Quispe 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Nathan Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
17 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Position 2, 40 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
A brace, and Nathan Silva takes the afternoon — 8.94
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nathan Silva provided it, and the 8.94 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Pumas UNAM, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nathan Silva 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ellyes Skhiri is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pumas UNAM can pretend not to have heard.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.57, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
23 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Nathan Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
16 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pumas UNAM can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pumas UNAM have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Silva is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Pumas UNAM, and 1 appearances in 15 say he has earned the hearing.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
Uriel Antuna was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.92. 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.
15 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
Hugo Camberos, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 9.15
A mark of 9.15 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.13 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pumas UNAM have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Pumas UNAM heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nathan Silva. 4‑3 against Tijuana, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
Position 3, 32 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Hugo Camberos, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.70
A mark of 8.70 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Guillermo Martínez 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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Silva 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.
Marked 8.86 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Pumas UNAM, and it is not being withdrawn.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.47, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pumas UNAM can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pumas UNAM have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Nathan Silva 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.
Marked 8.66 — 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.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adalberto Carrasquilla 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.
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
Juninho was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. 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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.03 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Piero Quispe was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Kevin Balanta wants continental football; whether Pumas UNAM can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Nathan Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Hugo Camberos did not need any: 8.97, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pumas UNAM can pretend not to have heard.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Guillermo Martínez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Pumas UNAM heard it as anything else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Guillermo Martínez provided it, and the 8.69 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Hugo Camberos did not need any: 7.63, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Pumas UNAM and Santos Laguna, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
A 4‑2 win over Santos Laguna, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
In brief
SquadEllyes Skhiri falls out with a teammate over standards
4‑1, and Guillermo Martínez took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Pumas UNAM tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Hugo Camberos, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 10.00
A mark of 10.00 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Two goals and a mark of 8.82 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Rubén Duarte was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Silva 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.
Marked 8.84 — 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.
Match16 Sep 2028
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Pumas UNAM. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Ellyes Skhiri 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Lautaro Ríos wants continental football; whether Pumas UNAM can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Silva 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.
Marked 9.01 — 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.
Hugo Camberos, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.59
A mark of 8.59 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.37 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pumas UNAM can pretend not to have heard.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Pumas UNAM hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I did not go to San Diego Football Club to sit and watch. I want to come back to Pumas UNAM and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Two goals and a mark of 8.93 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pumas UNAM can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Hugo Camberos, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 9.20
A mark of 9.20 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
A season average of 7.20 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Pumas UNAM know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Rubén Duarte 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.
Two goals and a mark of 10.00 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The 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 Aug 2028
Nathan Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Lautaro Ríos has improved at 27, 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.
Marked 9.17 — 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.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Toluca kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Pumas UNAM will be asked about the last half hour all week.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.47, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
Hugo Camberos, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.98
A mark of 8.98 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Nathan Silva 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Piero Quispe has improved at 27, 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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Pumas UNAM hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 10.00 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Hugo Camberos did not need any: 9.20, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.63 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The offer from Toluca for Jesús Iván Rodríguez was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.27 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
Hugo Camberos, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.26
A mark of 8.26 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Hugo Camberos is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
Nathan Silva 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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ellyes Skhiri is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 86th, and Pachuca spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
The phone has started ringing about Santiago López again, and this time the name on the line is New York Red Bulls. Pumas UNAM are listening politely and promising nothing.
Pumas UNAM moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Hirving Gallardo, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Santiago López is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Rubén Duarte 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.
Piero Quispe 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Pedro Vite has improved at 26, 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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Nathan Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Pumas UNAM has been clear about where Alan Medina stands, which is more than many ever get.
“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 Pumas UNAM, and it is not being withdrawn.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.57, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
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.
Nathan Silva was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Pumas UNAM heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Atlas paid $460.0K and Pumas UNAM took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Nathan Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Pumas UNAM will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The offer from Monterrey for Uriel Antuna 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.
Rubén Duarte was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Leo Suárez wants continental football; whether Pumas UNAM can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Silva 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 phone has started ringing about Nicolás Freire again, and this time the name on the line is Atlas. Pumas UNAM are listening politely and promising nothing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Ellyes Skhiri 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pumas UNAM have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Rubén Duarte 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.
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
Not a month, not a run of form — a whole season of being the best 21-year-old anybody in this division could put on a pitch. This is the honour that gets mentioned for the rest of his career.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Rodrigo Parra is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Piero Quispe wants continental football; whether Pumas UNAM can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 May 2028
Nathan Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
In brief
MarketRodrigo Parra comes back from a loan that worked
Nathan Silva was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Rodrigo Schlegel wants continental football; whether Pumas UNAM can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ellyes Skhiri is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Pablo Lara is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad15 May 2028
Nathan Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Pumas UNAM, and 4 appearances in 42 say he has earned the hearing.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Uriel Antuna signs something — a contract at Pumas UNAM or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.57, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
“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 Pumas UNAM, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Pumas UNAM are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The 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.
Rubén Duarte was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Lautaro Ríos wants continental football; whether Pumas UNAM can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Silva is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Pumas UNAM will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Nathan Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“I watch every Pumas UNAM game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Nautico runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.57, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Nathan Silva was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
SquadWords at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
“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 Pumas UNAM, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadNathan Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pumas UNAM have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Rubén Duarte 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.
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Pumas UNAM will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Silva is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Some 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.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.57, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
27 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Pumas UNAM heard it as anything else.
Rubén Duarte was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Pumas UNAM heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 23 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Nathan Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Pumas UNAM know it.
Nathan Silva was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Lautaro Ríos wants continental football; whether Pumas UNAM can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“I watch every Pumas UNAM game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Defensa y Justicia runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
In brief
Player ratingsThe one thing Uriel Antuna could not do
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
A brace, and Lautaro Ríos takes the afternoon — 8.89
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lautaro Ríos provided it, and the 8.89 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
Hugo Camberos, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.73
A mark of 7.73 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
8 goals and a season average of 7.51 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Nathan Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pumas UNAM can pretend not to have heard.
There are goals, and then there are goals against that particular opponent. The Pumas UNAM support have their bragging rights for a year and they know exactly whose name is on them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Leo Suárez wants continental football; whether Pumas UNAM can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“I watch every Pumas UNAM game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Plaza Colonia runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The offer from Borussia Dortmund for Hugo Camberos 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.
“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 Pumas UNAM, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pumas UNAM have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Ellyes Skhiri falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I watch every Pumas UNAM game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Leon runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pumas UNAM can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
Hugo Camberos, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.98
A mark of 8.98 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Silva is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
Nathan Silva was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.73. 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 ratings31 Jan 2028
Juninho was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.32. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
In brief
SquadDefences have started doubling up on Uriel Antuna
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Hugo Camberos did not need any: 8.60, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pumas UNAM can pretend not to have heard.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Piero Quispe wants continental football; whether Pumas UNAM can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Piero Quispe was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Ellyes Skhiri falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Pumas UNAM, and 7 appearances in 26 say he has earned the hearing.
Hugo Camberos, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.44
A mark of 8.44 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The phone has started ringing about Juninho again, and this time the name on the line is Cruz Azul. Pumas UNAM are listening politely and promising nothing.
A season average of 7.49 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Pumas UNAM know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Ellyes Skhiri 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Alonso Ripoll falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pumas UNAM can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Chiapas for Álvaro Angulo 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Lucas Lima has just signed for Pumas UNAM, and for once the answer mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Ellyes Skhiri 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.
“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 Pumas UNAM, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Pablo Bennevendo again, and this time the name on the line is Tigres. Pumas UNAM are listening politely and promising nothing.
Marked 9.52. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Pumas UNAM.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Nathan Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Pumas UNAM know it.
Nathan Silva 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rubén Duarte is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Uriel Antuna scored in the 88th minute, Leon had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Pumas UNAM took the lot.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Nathan Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Leon made Pumas UNAM work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Uriel Antuna was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.89. 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.
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.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Hugo Camberos, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.27
A mark of 8.27 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Pumas UNAM heard it as anything else.
Robert Morales was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Leo Suárez wants continental football; whether Pumas UNAM can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Silva 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.92 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 Pumas UNAM, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Pumas UNAM hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Rubén Duarte falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“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 Pumas UNAM, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
Hugo Camberos, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 9.15
A mark of 9.15 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
26 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.
Robert Morales was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Silva is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Robert Morales. 2‑0 against Morelia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A season average of 7.33 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Pumas UNAM know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Piero Quispe wants continental football; whether Pumas UNAM can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 9.64 — 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Nathan Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
26 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Nathan Silva was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Rodrigo Schlegel wants continental football; whether Pumas UNAM can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Marked 9.50 — 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rubén Duarte is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
21 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
0‑3 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.
Piero Quispe 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Nathan Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“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 Pumas UNAM, and it is not being withdrawn.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Hugo Camberos did not need any: 8.88, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Position 3, 27 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
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.
Robert Morales 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.
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Silva 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 21 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Pumas UNAM and Monterrey, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Pumas UNAM are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Rubén Duarte falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Club America kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Pumas UNAM will be asked about the last half hour all week.
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.
Robert Morales 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 shirt still fits. Oscar Destiny is back at Pumas UNAM, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Silva 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.
26 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
23 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Nathan Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The unbeaten run reaches 14. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Hugo Camberos, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.97
A mark of 8.97 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rubén Duarte is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Adalberto Carrasquilla was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.21, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Nathan Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Hugo Camberos. 3‑1 against Santos Laguna, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Hugo Camberos 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.
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.
Rubén Duarte 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.
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.
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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Silva 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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Álvaro Angulo reports back to Pumas UNAM with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
24 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defensive actions: 22, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Rubén Duarte falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Pumas UNAM, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.04 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pumas UNAM have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Hugo Camberos is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Pumas UNAM hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Kevin Borges has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Leo Suárez at his very best
57Edition
The Pumas UNAM Courier
30 Aug 2027
From our football correspondentSteady
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Hugo Camberos, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.28
A mark of 8.28 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
A season average of 7.09 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Pumas UNAM know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Pumas UNAM are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Nathan Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 8.98 — 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.
Marked 8.93 — 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Hugo Camberos 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.
Hugo Camberos had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Leon were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
A brace, and Hugo Camberos takes the afternoon — 9.69
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Hugo Camberos provided it, and the 9.69 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Pumas UNAM, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nathan Silva 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rubén Duarte is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Uriel Antuna was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.75. 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Nathan Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pumas UNAM will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Pumas UNAM can pretend not to have heard.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Robert Morales provided it, and the 8.62 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Hugo Camberos did not need any: 7.61, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
Rubén Duarte was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Leo Suárez wants continental football; whether Pumas UNAM can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Silva 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
A brace, and Hugo Camberos takes the afternoon — 8.64
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Hugo Camberos provided it, and the 8.64 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Rubén Duarte falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Hugo Camberos 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Chiapas will make the call about Álvaro Angulo this week. Pumas UNAM have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Hugo Camberos in the middle of it, and Morelia unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The 86th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Nathan Silva decided nobody was going anywhere. Pachuca had no time left to answer.
The offer from San Diego Football Club for Hugo Camberos 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.
Robert Morales was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
6 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Silva 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pumas UNAM will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Pedro Vite and Pumas UNAM agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Nathan Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I watch every Pumas UNAM game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Veracruz runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Hapoel Beer Sheva for Santiago López 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.
Robert Morales was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 67 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 74 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Pumas UNAM, and it is not being withdrawn.
Rubén Duarte 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Silva 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Pumas UNAM know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pumas UNAM will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The deal that would have taken Álvaro Angulo to Chiapas has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Pumas UNAM with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
The chase for Alex Alcalá ended with $520.0K changing hands and Queretaro out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Santiago López is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo López is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 90 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from La Equidad for Pablo Lara was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Silva 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.
Dorados paid $110.0K and Pumas UNAM took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 97 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Pumas UNAM heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
In brief
SquadNathan Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The terracesThe stands have heard the Juninho talk too
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pumas UNAM will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Nathan Silva 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pumas UNAM will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
Nathan Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Pumas UNAM know it.
“I watch every Pumas UNAM game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Vancouver Whitecaps runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pumas UNAM will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Pumas UNAM may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Silva is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Pumas UNAM will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 138 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Silva is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Nathan Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
In brief
SquadLeo Suárez has become a man the manager trusts
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pumas UNAM have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Álvaro Angulo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad19 Apr 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Nathan Silva's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Everyone has stopped pretending: CF Montreal will make the call about Pablo Lara this week. Pumas UNAM have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
7 goals in 22 games at Sydney FC — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Pumas UNAM updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Robert Morales 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 Apr 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Silva 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 offer from Vancouver Whitecaps for Alan Guzmán 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Nathan Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Rubén Duarte was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Álvaro Angulo 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 phone has started ringing about Santiago López again, and this time the name on the line is Vancouver Whitecaps. Pumas UNAM are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Nathan Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Paul Bellón 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pumas UNAM have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Robert Morales was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Silva 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 14 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Pumas UNAM have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Pumas UNAM this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Robert Morales will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Pumas UNAM escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Two goals and a mark of 8.40 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Nathan Silva 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.
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Pumas UNAM will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Álvaro Angulo 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.