Alex Telles 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 Oct 2027
Words at Tombense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maximiliano Rogoski 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.
“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 dugout11 Oct 2027
Tiago Caveira is still being punished for one mistake
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.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Sampaio Corrêa.
Alex Ruiz has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tombense lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.84 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tombense 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 Maximiliano Rogoski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
8 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Tombense, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tombense have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maximiliano Rogoski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Level with 86 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Tombense had all but put away. Ypiranga will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tombense can pretend not to have heard.
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.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Juventude have kept their man, and Tombense go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Bruno Menezes 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Tombense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maximiliano Rogoski 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 afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.17 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Tombense have gone to Juventude 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Tombense have done the hard part with Internacional, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Bahia keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.91 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Pedro Henrique 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Vander has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Tombense have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Tombense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Caio Amaral 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Arthur Caike. 1‑0 against Inter de Limeira, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout31 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Willian Araujo kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bruno Menezes trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tombense will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
0‑4 against Volta Redonda, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tombense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Tombense
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
Caio Amaral 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Márcio Rangel is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 22 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Pedro Henrique 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 Apr 2027
Words at Tombense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maximiliano Rogoski 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tombense will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Arthur Caike and Tombense agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Tombense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maximiliano Rogoski 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Tombense, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 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 Tombense can pretend not to have heard.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Tombense can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Maximiliano Rogoski 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Tombense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Caio Amaral 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tombense will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Pedro Henrique 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maximiliano Rogoski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Tombense will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Pedro Henrique 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Tombense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Caio Amaral 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tombense 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 Tombense 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 Caio Amaral was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tombense will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maximiliano Rogoski was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tombense will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Maximiliano Rogoski and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Caio Amaral 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tombense will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
14 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Tombense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maximiliano Rogoski 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tombense 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 Tombense 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tombense will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tombense will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Pedro Henrique 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Tombense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zé Phelipe 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.
In brief
The dugoutReinaldo Dutra asks for a word with the manager
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Tombense will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Marcelo Carné 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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Tombense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maximiliano Rogoski 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Tombense, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A brace, and Yann Rolim takes the afternoon — 8.40
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Yann Rolim provided it, and the 8.40 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.84 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Grafite, and the manager let it.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Willian Araujo kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tombense they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Pedro Henrique 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Dodô had Tombense level again within 2 minutes, and ABC never got to play with a lead at all.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tombense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Tombense will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Tombense, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Tombense would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Tombense know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.42 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tombense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everybody at Tombense 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.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout5 Oct 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.” Willian Araujo, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
4‑0, and Arthur Caike took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Tombense tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A brace, and Arthur Caike takes the afternoon — 8.83
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Arthur Caike provided it, and the 8.83 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Marcelo Rodrigues 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.
Marked 7.75 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
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.
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.
Pedro Henrique 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.
Avaí will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Kauã Fernandes has pre-agreed a move to Tombense, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Tombense know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Tombense will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Tombense, another week without a signature from Yann Rolim.