A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.85 for the rest of it.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Jhojan Julio wants continental football; whether Queretaro can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
4 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.
Guillermo Allison 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
Bayron 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Jhojan Julio
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Jhojan Julio has come out of that comparison in the side, and Queretaro have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Pachuca kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Queretaro will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
7.72, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Enzo Giménez wants continental football; whether Queretaro 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 Queretaro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.92 beside his name.
Diego Reyes was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Enzo Giménez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sebastián Hernández and Queretaro agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Jose Lozano to a room that had heard them before.
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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Queretaro will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Michael Carcelén provided it, and the 8.17 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Diego Reyes 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.
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Queretaro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enzo Giménez 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.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Tijuana were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Queretaro will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Leonardo Cruz and Queretaro agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Bless Ege falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Tijuana in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Queretaro. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Queretaro will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Cruz Azul kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Queretaro will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Santiago Homenchenko scored, was marked 6.97, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Lucas Abascia was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Queretaro will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
4 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 Queretaro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Santiago Trigos, and the manager let it.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Jose Lozano to a room that had heard them before.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Diego Reyes
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Queretaro 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 Queretaro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Queretaro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enzo Giménez 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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Jose Lozano left the room before anybody could ask which.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Queretaro will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Santiago Trigos has just signed for Queretaro, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Enzo Giménez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Jose Lozano after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
In brief
The dugoutBayron Duarte knocks on the manager's door
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Queretaro will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 9 arrived, 30 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Queretaro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Puebla moved on, Rubén Arellano reports back to Queretaro, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Leon have kept their man, and Queretaro go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Abascia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Queretaro will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Michael Carcelén scored, was marked 7.78, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Enzo Giménez wants continental football; whether Queretaro can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Diego Reyes 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.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Pumas UNAM have kept their man, and Queretaro go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Abascia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Queretaro will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Queretaro lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Queretaro, and it is not being withdrawn.
Diego Reyes and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Queretaro will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The words a physio says slowly. 24 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“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 Queretaro, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Enzo Giménez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Monterrey have kept their man, and Queretaro go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Marked 7.10 on 11 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Edison Gruezo 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.
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.
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Queretaro lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Queretaro have lost him in all but the paperwork.
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.
13 combined actions and 6.78. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Leon have kept their man, and Queretaro go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Queretaro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Abascia 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 Queretaro will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The words a physio says slowly. 41 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
1 for Michael Carcelén, marked 7.66, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Queretaro asked and Pumas UNAM said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Queretaro will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
4 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.
Diego Reyes 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Queretaro they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Queretaro
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Enzo Giménez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Feyenoord have kept their man, and Queretaro go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Queretaro will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Queretaro can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Veracruz for Daniel Parra 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.
Queretaro asked and Mallorca said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Abascia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Queretaro will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Queretaro people have started saying his name in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Queretaro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Veracruz have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Daniel Parra. The answer from Queretaro has not changed — yet.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Estudiantes have kept their man, and Queretaro go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Queretaro will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Jhojan Julio wants continental football; whether Queretaro can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Diego Reyes 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.
27 games, 0 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Queretaro now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Queretaro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Abascia 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 Queretaro can pretend not to have heard.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Queretaro can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rubén Arellano will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Queretaro the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cruz Azul have kept their man, and Queretaro go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Queretaro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Abascia 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.
Daniel Parra 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.
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
The dugoutDaniel Parra asks for a word with the manager
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Queretaro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Monterrey have kept their man, and Queretaro go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bernardo Parra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting José Hernández'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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Queretaro will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The words a physio says slowly. 14 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Queretaro have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Queretaro, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gerardo Gil will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Queretaro the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Guillermo Allison 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Carlos Mendiola is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Queretaro asked and Mallorca said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Lucas Abascia 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
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Carlo Adriano
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Lucas Abascia's mistake
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Queretaro lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Queretaro can pretend not to have heard.
Diego Reyes 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.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Pumas UNAM have kept their man, and Queretaro go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Lucas Abascia 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 it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
In brief
The dugoutCarlo Adriano knocks on the manager's door
BoardroomOpen for business: Queretaro enter the window
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Queretaro lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Queretaro have had the benefit of it.
Diego Reyes 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.
Market31 May 2027
Edison Gruezo returns from a loan that gave him nothing
4 appearances and 0 goals is not a season, it is a year somebody has lost. Whether that is his fault, the borrowing club's or the people who arranged it is the argument the next few weeks will have.
The dugout31 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Jesús Vega'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.
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Queretaro lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Diego Reyes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 May 2027
Lucas Abascia 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 easiest signature of my career.” Leonardo Martínez and Queretaro agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The words a physio says slowly. 44 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Queretaro they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Queretaro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Abascia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout17 May 2027
Lucas Abascia is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Iker Benito signs something — a contract at Queretaro or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 53 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Queretaro 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.
60 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Queretaro lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Queretaro can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
“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 Queretaro, and 4 appearances in 14 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Queretaro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Abascia 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.
Pavel García and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Queretaro has been clear about where Pablo Cornejo stands, which is more than many ever get.
Something was said to Fernando Valenzuela and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
In brief
The dugoutJesús Vega is still being punished for one mistake
The dugoutDaniel Parra asks for a word with the manager
The words a physio says slowly. 67 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Enzo Giménez wants continental football; whether Queretaro can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Guillermo Allison was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Abascia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
In brief
The dugoutCarlo Adriano asks for a word with the manager
76 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Queretaro lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Queretaro is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bernardo Parra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Lucas Abascia is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Eduardo Pérez
84 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Queretaro lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Diego Reyes 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Queretaro and Leon, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Lucas Abascia falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑6, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
93 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Queretaro lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Diego Reyes 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.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Something was said to Carlo Adriano and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
101 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Queretaro lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Queretaro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Queretaro has been clear about where Fernando Valenzuela stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Axel Cruz’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Queretaro needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Nobody at Queretaro 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.
MatchNothing left to play for but pride at Queretaro
34Edition
The Queretaro Sentinel
22 Mar 2027
From our football correspondentSteady
Squad22 Mar 2027
Jhojan Julio damages knee ligaments — 109 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 109 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gerardo Gil will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Queretaro the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Rolando Flores is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Enzo Giménez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Queretaro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Something was said to Guillermo Allison and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
118 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Queretaro lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A season average of 7.52 with 32 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
A brace, and Mateo Coronel takes the afternoon — 8.90
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mateo Coronel provided it, and the 8.90 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Carlos Mendiola is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
8 goals in one match, Mateo Coronel on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Queretaro and Morelia.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Enzo Giménez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.23 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
In brief
Player ratingsCarlo Adriano was on a different afternoon to everybody else
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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Queretaro can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Puebla were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Queretaro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Queretaro can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Cesar Montes 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Queretaro can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Queretaro they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
6 goals in one match, Iker Benito on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Queretaro and Tijuana.
Beaten 2‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Queretaro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Abascia 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.
In brief
Player ratingsIker Benito was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Two goals and a mark of 8.49 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Diego Reyes 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.
Minute 90, against Cruz Azul, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Queretaro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago Homenchenko is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
1‑6 to Monterrey, 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.
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.
Diego Reyes 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.
7 goals in one match, Carlo Adriano on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Queretaro and Monterrey.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Queretaro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Abascia 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.
Beaten 6 times, with 4 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑6, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Queretaro can pretend not to have heard.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Queretaro may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Queretaro close the window on a squad of their own making
0 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Lucas Abascia 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.
Queretaro asked and Cruz Azul said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Queretaro is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Lucas Abascia and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jhojan Julio, and the manager let it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Queretaro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bernardo Parra 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 it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Queretaro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Lucas Abascia 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.
A point taken on 85 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Something was said to Jhojan Julio and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Daniel Parra
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
Player ratingsAlex Alcalá changes it off the bench
24Edition
The Queretaro Sentinel
11 Jan 2027
From our football correspondentSteady
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
A brace, and Mateo Coronel takes the afternoon — 8.66
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mateo Coronel provided it, and the 8.66 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Queretaro people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Queretaro, and it is not being withdrawn.
Diego Reyes 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Queretaro and Santos Laguna, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Queretaro have had the benefit of it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Queretaro 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.” Queretaro 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Queretaro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Monterrey have kept their man, and Queretaro go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
7.12, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Abascia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
1 for Lucas Abascia, marked 7.89, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
1 for Michael Carcelén, marked 7.65, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Enzo Giménez wants continental football; whether Queretaro can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Carlos Mendiola is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Queretaro and Dorados in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mateo Coronel. 4‑2 against Dorados, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Diego Reyes 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.
Position 6, 33 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The 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 dugout14 Dec 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.” Jose Lozano kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
0‑5 to Leon, 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.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Abascia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Daniel Parra and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
Nobody left the Queretaro dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑5 defeat, delivered by Jose Lozano to a room that had heard them before.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
A brace, and Mateo Coronel takes the afternoon — 9.11
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mateo Coronel provided it, and the 9.11 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Guillermo Allison was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carlos Villanueva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Diego Reyes 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ali Ávila 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ali Ávila. 1‑0 against Chiapas, 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.
Something was said to Carlo Adriano and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Diego Reyes was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Abascia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Queretaro, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Queretaro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Morelia made Queretaro work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Mateo Coronel was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.29. 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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carlos Villanueva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Daniel Parra
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Leonardo Morales's mistake
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.88 for the rest of it.
Lucas Abascia 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.
Marked 8.22 — 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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bernardo Parra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two goals and a mark of 8.49 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Bernardo Parra 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Abascia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Michael Carcelén scored in the 89th minute, Tijuana had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Queretaro took the lot.
7.68, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
The 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.
Diego Reyes 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mathías Alessandro is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Guillermo Allison 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.
10 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bayron Duarte trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
4 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Carlos Mendiola is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Abascia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
Player ratingsPaulo Victor beats them one at a time
Diego Reyes 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Rolando Flores is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Jose Lozano after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
Diego Reyes 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 left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Queretaro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bernardo Parra 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 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.
Monterrey next, and one man in the Queretaro dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Queretaro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Abascia 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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Emilio Albarran 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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Jose Lozano left the room before anybody could ask which.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 8 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Lucas Abascia 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Iker Benito has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
The 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
10 new faces, and Queretaro 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.
Tigres next, and one man in the Queretaro dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Diego Reyes and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
200 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Mateo Coronel was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Jose Lozano could afford to be generous.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ali Ávila provided it, and the 8.83 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Enzo Giménez wants continental football; whether Queretaro can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Diego Reyes 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.
9 goals in one match, Mateo Coronel on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Queretaro and Santos Laguna.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Lucas Abascia 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 88th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Mateo Coronel decided nobody was going anywhere. Veracruz had no time left to answer.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Queretaro 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: Mateo Coronel. 1‑0 against Veracruz, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.86 on the card, and the Queretaro support went home talking about one name.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Queretaro training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Villanueva 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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: La Equidad keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Diego Reyes 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Alexis Vega 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Gabriel Ramirez is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Carlos Moreno is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Diego Martin 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.
Edison Gruezo, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.62
A mark of 7.62 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ali Ávila 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Lucas Abascia 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.