It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Caxias 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.
Nobody at Caxias 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.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Caxias this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Caxias training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wesley Rodrigues 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 chase for Jhonatan Lima ended with $70.0K changing hands and América Mineiro out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Bruno Moura 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.
Everybody at Caxias 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Rodrigues was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have shaken hands with Corinthians; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Alegria from Nova Iguaçu for $1.6M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Bruno Moura 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.
Wesley Rodrigues 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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Nobody at Caxias will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Caxias, and both men came out saying it was fine.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Caxias know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Caxias have gone to Operário Ferroviário with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Caxias have gone to Santos with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Bruno Moura 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 first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Tombense; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Caxias prefer.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Roberto is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Riquelmo provided it, and the 9.06 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.39 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Caxias this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 9.19. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Caxias.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Caxias training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Rodrigues 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Dija 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.
Nobody at Caxias 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.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Caxias the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
6 goals in one match, Riquelmo on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Caxias and Retrô.
Marked 9.87 — 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Bruno Moura 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Marcelo Machado 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Caxias this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
0‑1 to Anápolis, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
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 Márcio Nogueira to a room that had heard them before.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Caxias, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Roberto’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Caxias needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Words at Caxias training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Moura 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. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout19 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Márcio Nogueira 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.
Nobody at Caxias will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Simão Bertelli signs something — a contract at Caxias or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.09, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Bruno Moura 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.
Wesley Rodrigues 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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Márcio Nogueira, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Chances created: 11. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 15 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
It had gone 6 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Caxias training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Rodrigues 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.
He is 21 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Caxias will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
6 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Samuel Rocha 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Márcio Nogueira after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Roberto is on it.
24 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Márcio Nogueira to a room that had heard them before.
His past walked in ahead of him. Players who have been where he has been get a hearing in a dressing room before they have earned one, and he has it for as long as his form does.
It is a strip of cloth and it decides nothing on a Saturday. It still tells the dressing room exactly whose opinion the manager values, which is the whole point of it.