Marked for Lucas Rocha
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Jul 2027
Thassio 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 The request is on a desk at Ituano, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market12 Jul 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ituano people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market12 Jul 2027
Ituano may not be able to give Luciano Juba what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Luciano Juba wants continental football; whether Ituano can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Ituano
Alan Saldivia 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Ituano training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Osman 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.
Match10 Jul 2027
Three points for Ituano, 1‑0 the final word against Cuiabá in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lucas Rocha, and the manager let it.
Loan watch12 Jul 2027
“I did not go to Farense to sit and watch. I want to come back to Ituano and fight for my place.” 4 appearances in 23 matches say the rest.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.74 on the card, and the Ituano support went home talking about one name.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match15 May 2027
The wait goes on for Ituano
7 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.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad17 May 2027
Osman 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Words exchanged at Ituano
Lucas Rocha 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 dugout17 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gabriel Razera, and the manager let it.
Loan watch17 May 2027
“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 Ituano, and 5 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.
Match15 May 2027
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout17 May 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ituano, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout17 May 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Samuel Freitas after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Apr 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ituano this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Lucas Rocha and Ituano agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Alason Carioca 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
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Market
The Luiz Felipe story refuses to die
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Squad
Léo Souza has had enough of the bench
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Boardroom
The Ituano board put their names to it
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom14 Dec 2026
Up they go: Ituano promoted
Confirmed, mathematical, and a town awake all night. Whatever else the season contained, it finishes a division higher than it started.
Squad14 Dec 2026
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 Ituano have had the benefit of it.
Market14 Dec 2026
Ituano say no — this time
The offer from Azuriz for Lucas Dias 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.
Boardroom14 Dec 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $100.1K — a club that wants Lucas Pereira enough to be asked twice.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Ituano
Guilherme Xavier and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Nascimento is a better footballer than he was
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.
Market14 Dec 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Ituano have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Ituano
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Carlão was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market14 Dec 2026
Everyone has stopped pretending: Lagarto will make the call about Gabriel William this week. Ituano have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Aug 2026
A bad afternoon for Treze against Horizonte
0‑1 to Horizonte, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Market3 Aug 2026
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Rafael Tanque leaves Treze the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.