Marked for Edson
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 May 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 13 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match6 May 2028
8 matches without a win for Confiança
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Confiança are no longer polite ones.
Market8 May 2028
Only the photograph left for Vitinho
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vitinho will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Confiança the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings8 May 2028
Edson pops up at the right end — 7.84
7.84, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Market8 May 2028
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Confiança can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad8 May 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Tony Batista and Confiança agree another 2 years.
Squad8 May 2028
Words exchanged at Confiança
Marcelinho 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 dugout8 May 2028
“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.
Squad8 May 2028
Tiago makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Apr 2028
A one-man rearguard from Tony Batista
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
Daniel Molina: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Confiança have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match22 Apr 2028
No end in sight to Confiança's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Confiança has to find a result from somewhere.
Market24 Apr 2028
Axel Leal has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Confiança they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Kaike 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.
Match22 Apr 2028
0‑2 to Ituano, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
Kaike gets it from the manager
“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 dugout24 Apr 2028
“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.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
Edson 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 Apr 2028
“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 Confiança, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market3 Apr 2028
Only the photograph left for David Lucas
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. David Lucas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Confiança the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad3 Apr 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Edson and Confiança agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Tiago 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.
Market3 Apr 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Daniel Molina has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Confiança.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
William Barbio 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 dugout3 Apr 2028
Daniel Orduz knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Confiança, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Daniel Orduz has moved up it.
Market3 Apr 2028
The Isack question follows Confiança around
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Isack’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
In brief
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The dugout
When it matters, Derick plays
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Squad
A wage question at Confiança
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Boardroom
The Confiança academy earns its keep
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Dec 2027
The season ends: position 15 for Confiança
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 44 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Market6 Dec 2027
Confiança say no — this time
The offer from Avaí for Bernardo 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.
Market6 Dec 2027
David Lucas hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Confiança can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets6 Dec 2027
The deal with Ceará is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words exchanged at Confiança
Vinícius Paiva 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.
Market6 Dec 2027
The name of Kevin Martínez has come up in conversations Confiança were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad6 Dec 2027
A row about effort at Confiança
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vanderlan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets6 Dec 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sport Recife have kept their man, and Confiança go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 12 actions, 6.77, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match27 Apr 2027
Nowhere to hide for Confiança
0‑3 against Sampaio Corrêa, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The dugout3 May 2027
Mateus Carvalho: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Confiança have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Edson goes up and wins it — 7.69
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.69 for the rest of it.
Match1 May 2027
Beaten 3‑5, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad3 May 2027
Vinícius Paiva and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match1 May 2027
8 goals as Confiança and CSA go for it
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Confiança and CSA, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad3 May 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Lucas Melgarejo commits to Confiança for another 4 years.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Confiança training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tássio 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 dugout3 May 2027
Tony Batista gets it from the manager
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Sep 2026
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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Zé Gabriel pops up at the right end — 7.67
7.67, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Confiança's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Confiança has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Cleiton and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match26 Sep 2026
Confiança are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Boardroom28 Sep 2026
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Bernardo Jacob has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Confiança have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Match26 Sep 2026
Brusque left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Edson
“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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
14 new faces, and Confiança 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.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Squad
No place for Lucas Melgarejo in the new shape
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Looking ahead
Marcelinho faces his old club
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Sep 2026
William Barbio and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Sep 2026
No place for Edson in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Confiança are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market7 Sep 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Confiança, another week without a signature from Marcelinho.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to João Fernandes, and the manager let it.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
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 Andrey Quintino is on it.
Looking ahead7 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Tombense in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Squad7 Sep 2026
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
Market7 Sep 2026
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Edson arrives at Confiança with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.