Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abner 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 Uberlândia 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 Abner was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Uberlândia are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Uberlândia were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Uberlândia know it.
Jesús Molina 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 easiest signature of my career.” Daniel Meneses and Uberlândia agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Uberlândia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abner 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Uberlândia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Uberlândia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abner 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Wellerson signs something — a contract at Uberlândia or anywhere else — this column belongs to 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.
Jonatas Paulista 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 Abner was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Uberlândia know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
In brief
Squad10 new faces, and Uberlândia are still learning each other
Everything agreed with Botafogo-SP, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Jesús Molina 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.
Uberlândia offered $42.0K; Vasco da Gama said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
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.
Uberlândia have made the call to Água Santa. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Uberlândia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
A season-long look at somebody else’s player: Aranha arrives from Horizonte with something to prove and a return ticket in the drawer. Good loans make everybody richer; this one starts Saturday.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
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.
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. Uberlândia will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Paulo Peixoto after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Guarany de Bagé? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 34 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Uberlândia is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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 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 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.
Nobody at Uberlândia is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
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.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Uberlândia know which stage they are at.
9 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.
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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Azuriz defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Ryan Daniel had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Operário-MS were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Alex Batista is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Júnior Moura 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.
“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.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Uberlândia have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
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.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Paulo Peixoto was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Uberlândia dressing room was either.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Uberlândia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Goiatuba defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
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.
Wellerson 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Jhonatan Almeida has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Uberlândia have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Uberlândia know which stage they are at.