“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 The request is on a desk at Porto Vitória, and it is not being withdrawn.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Marcel Cerezo 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.
Porto Vitória have made the call to Sport Recife. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Adriel and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Porto Vitória training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jeferson 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Felipe Oliveira after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Porto Vitória told Pedro Silva something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Figueirense defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Adriel signs something — a contract at Porto Vitória or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcel Cerezo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 19 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.
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Player ratings22 May 2028
Jeferson was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.07. 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
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Douglas Lukaku
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Porto Vitória can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcel Cerezo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Márcio 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.
Boardroom15 May 2028
151% of the income goes out in wages at Porto Vitória
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $5.9M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
The dugout15 May 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Felipe Oliveira left the room before anybody could ask which.
“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 Porto Vitória, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.21 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Porto Velho were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Marcel Cerezo 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.
Everybody at Porto Vitória saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
He is 19 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Juan Gabriel. 2‑0 against Porto Velho, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“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 Porto Vitória, and it is not being withdrawn.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jeferson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Falcão 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. Destro 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Porto Vitória can pretend not to have heard.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Marcel Cerezo 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 Porto Vitória this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Pedoca has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Marcel Cerezo 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Porto Vitória know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Porto Vitória could ask drops and the wages Alan Maia can ask rise.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Pedro Silva has written the date down.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Porto Vitória this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words at Porto Vitória training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jeferson 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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Pedro Silva has written the date down.
“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 Porto Vitória, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
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.
Ricardo Britos 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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
“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 dugout22 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Felipe Oliveira was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Porto Vitória dressing room was either.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ricardo Britos trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Ricardo Britos 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 Nov 2027
Words at Porto Vitória training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcel Cerezo 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.
Everybody at Porto Vitória saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Porto Vitória would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Porto Vitória. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Matheus Lagoa 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 Marcel Cerezo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Felipe Oliveira on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
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 Porto Vitória this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Marcel Cerezo 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Porto Vitória is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Porto Vitória can pretend not to have heard.
Matheus Lagoa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Porto Vitória training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcel Cerezo 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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
251% of the income goes out in wages at Porto Vitória
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $4.4M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Ricardo Britos scored in the 89th minute, Porto Velho had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Porto Vitória took the lot.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Márcio and Porto Vitória agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Porto Vitória training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedoca 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 is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
At 19 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.13 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Matheus Lagoa 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 never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Márcio commits to Porto Vitória for another 2 years.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Marcel Cerezo 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Felipe Oliveira on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Porto Vitória lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
São Paulo go through and Porto Vitória go home, 0‑4 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
It finished 0-4. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.26 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Porto Vitória this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Ceilândia scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
In brief
BoardroomNobody left the Porto Vitória dressing room in a hurry
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Porto Vitória lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jeferson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Porto Vitória lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Ricardo Britos 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Porto Vitória training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcel Cerezo 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: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout10 May 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Felipe Oliveira to a room that had heard them before.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Porto Vitória, and both men came out saying it was fine.
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Porto Vitória lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Porto Vitória will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
Ricardo Britos 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 Marcel Cerezo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 22 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: Yuri Farrapo. 1‑0 against Maricá, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The words a physio says slowly. 48 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Porto Vitória will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Porto Vitória 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 Jeferson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
55 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Porto Vitória lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Porto Vitória 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 Porto Vitória this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
3 academy players handed senior numbers at Porto Vitória
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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Marcel Cerezo 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.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
169% of the income goes out in wages at Porto Vitória
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Samuel Oliveira 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.
62 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Porto Vitória lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Porto Vitória will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Matheus Lagoa 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 words a physio says slowly. 69 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 55 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
76 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Porto Vitória lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Porto Vitória will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The words a physio says slowly. 83 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 69 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Porto Vitória can pretend not to have heard.
The words a physio says slowly. 90 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Porto Vitória will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Ricardo Britos 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.
97 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Porto Vitória lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Porto Vitória will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Matheus Lagoa 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Porto Vitória training over how hard people work
104 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Porto Vitória lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Matheus Lagoa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Marcel Cerezo 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Porto Vitória, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ricardo Britos signs something — a contract at Porto Vitória or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
111 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Porto Vitória lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Porto Vitória will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
118 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Porto Vitória lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Augusto César 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Porto Vitória training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcel Cerezo 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Vitória; Porto Vitória go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Augusto César 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 Jan 2027
Words at Porto Vitória training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jeferson 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.
Everybody at Porto Vitória saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
The words a physio says slowly. 30 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 deal with Água Santa is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Goiás keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Oscar Marchant 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Porto Vitória training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcel Cerezo 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Junior Núñez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The words a physio says slowly. 52 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.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Jorge Paredes 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 Marcel Cerezo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
20 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcel Cerezo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Oct 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Felipe Oliveira to a room that had heard them before.
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.
At 22 he has taken a place rather than been given one, and somebody else has to find something to say about it. Porto Vitória have a decision that made itself.
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Adriano Bispo keeps the shirt for now, at Porto Vitória's convenience rather than his own.
In brief
Player ratingsJorge Paredes spends the afternoon fouling
Márcio 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 39, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jeferson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
18 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.
It needed Pedoca to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Maricá, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Felipe Oliveira chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Successful dribbles: 12. 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 shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Two goals and a mark of 8.00 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
At 22 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.
“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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Porto Vitória training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcel Cerezo 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Porto Vitória has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Porto Vitória training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jeferson 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 games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.53 on the card, and the Porto Vitória support went home talking about one name.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Felipe Oliveira chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Rio Branco? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
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.
Porto Velho next, and one man in the Porto Vitória dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Porto Vitória has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
0‑3 to Luverdense, 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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
It finished 0-14. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Porto Vitória and Água Santa, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 14 goals between Porto Vitória and Cruzeiro, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Porto Vitória 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑8, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Sérgio Mota is 37 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Joinville defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. São Luiz will not keep him by pretending otherwise.