Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Sebastián Córdova and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
1‑2 to Pachuca, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad23 Nov 2026
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.
Half the programme played, position 3, 38 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
Position 2, 38 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.
The 89th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and César Huerta decided nobody was going anywhere. Puebla had no time left to answer.
Puebla made Pumas UNAM work for it, but the scoreboard read 4‑3 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad16 Nov 2026
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.
Robert Morales and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
4 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adalberto Carrasquilla was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Pumas UNAM game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Pachuca runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Keylor Navas: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
“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.
Rubén Duarte and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
It needed Uriel Antuna to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Monterrey, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Jesús Isijara
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Kevin Ochoa after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
In brief
Looking aheadPumas UNAM take on the side everybody is chasing
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 and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Pumas UNAM will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Oribe Alvarez has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Eduardo Salcedo has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Squad12 Oct 2026
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.
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad5 Oct 2026
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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.35 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
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.
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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Juninho provided it, and the 9.68 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match19 Sep 2026
Uriel Antuna wins it after the whistle should have gone
94 minutes played. Uriel Antuna found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Veracruz went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Two goals and a mark of 9.56 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Nathan Silva and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Uriel Antuna. 4‑3 against Veracruz, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nathan Silva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
César Garza and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad14 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and Pumas UNAM are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Kevin Ochoa, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Juan Dinenno
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 15 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Pumas UNAM ran out of time with Santos Laguna. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Rubén Duarte and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
4 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Squad7 Sep 2026
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 8.60 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The offer from Cruz Azul for Rubén Duarte 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.
$3.7M on the table at Santos Laguna. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
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.
Pumas UNAM offered $99.0K; Monterrey said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Pumas UNAM asked and Queretaro said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Two goals and a mark of 9.32 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Guadalajara have kept their man, and Pumas UNAM go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Juan Dinenno wants continental football; whether Pumas UNAM can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Pumas UNAM offered $390.0K; Tigres said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nathan Silva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Uriel Antuna. 3‑1 against Leon, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Veracruz paid $74.0K 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Monterrey have kept their man, and Pumas UNAM go back to a list with one name crossed off 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.
Pumas UNAM offered $880.0K; Guadalajara said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
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 1‑0 win over Toluca, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad17 Aug 2026
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.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Kevin Ochoa kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 86th, and Chiapas spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Successful dribbles: 30. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Pumas UNAM people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer went to Guadalajara this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
“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.
Borussia Dortmund pay $1.6M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Pumas UNAM have gone to Tigres with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
“I 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Pumas UNAM and Morelia, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Pumas UNAM training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sebastián Córdova 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.