Marked for Éder
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market23 Aug 2027
Fernando puts it in writing
“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 The request is on a desk at Ceará, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Nathan scores twice — 8.30
Two goals and a mark of 8.30 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
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Squad23 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Ceará
Vinicius Zanocelo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match21 Aug 2027
The run at home goes on for Ceará
10 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Nobody could get near Dieguinho
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Dieguinho 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Nathan is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.26 with 12 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match21 Aug 2027
A 2‑1 win over Paysandu, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
In brief
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The dugout
Éder is still being punished for one mistake
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Nathan gets picked when it counts
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Ceará
Vinicius Zanocelo 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Ceará
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fernando was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
Fernando gets picked when it counts
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 Fernando is on it.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
Éder asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad1 Feb 2027
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at Ceará says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
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 Bruno Ferreira has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Oct 2026
9 matches without a win for Ceará
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Ceará are no longer polite ones.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Ceará
Vinicius Zanocelo 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Ceará
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match31 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad2 Nov 2026
5 new faces, and Ceará are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Éder
“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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Nathan was unplayable
Successful dribbles: 14. 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 dugout2 Nov 2026
Fernando has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Ceará 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.