128 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. CSA lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 47 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
4 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 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.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Rodrygo Santos left the room before anybody could ask which.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason CSA will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 The request is on a desk at CSA, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CSA 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
In brief
The dugoutLucas Taylor has become a man the manager trusts
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason CSA will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Ruan is a CSA player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around CSA they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at CSA can tell you which week it ends in.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Monte Azul have kept their man, and CSA go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Renan Gorne was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Itabirito people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. João Scatolin did not need any: 8.10, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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 7.67 for the rest of it.
Add another name to the list: Criciúma have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Vinícius Dias. The answer from Itabirito has not changed — yet.
Orlando Neto 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.
Guarani will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Lucas Martins has pre-agreed a move to Itabirito, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Itabirito training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Rodrigues 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 CSA will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
The clubs have shaken hands with Itabirito; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Jean Carlos 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.
10 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.
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Itabirito have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Two goals and a mark of 8.54 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tomás Gemelli will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Itabirito the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ruan 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Itabirito training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Rodrigues 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.
He is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 102 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. CSA have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. David Nogueira is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
CSA asked and Itabirito said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Jean Carlos 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 Renan Gorne was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. João Scatolin did not need any: 7.76, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Ruan 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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tomás Gemelli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
7.90, 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Itabirito this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words at Itabirito training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Rodrigues 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.
Everybody at Itabirito saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 37 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Itabirito have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The deal with Bragantino 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Rodrigues 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 Itabirito this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
América Mineiro have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
“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.
2 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.48 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 Itabirito, and it is not being withdrawn.
Pedro Rodrigues 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Flávio Nunes 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
Pedro Rodrigues 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 Junior Pastorino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mateus Guimarães, and the manager let it.
The dugout17 May 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Júnior Amaral chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
In brief
Looking aheadA test against the best for Itabirito
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tomás Gemelli will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Itabirito the goodbyes have quietly begun.
7.70, 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bruno José, and the manager let it.
The dugout10 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.” Júnior Amaral kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Ruan 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.
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Itabirito training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Flávio Nunes 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Itabirito, another week without a signature from Tomás Gemelli.
Two goals and a mark of 9.53 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 12 matches without defeat is a foundation Itabirito did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Tomás Gemelli, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.96
A mark of 7.96 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Bruno José scored, was marked 7.76, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.97, and 2 involvements.
Pedro Rodrigues 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Itabirito and Barra in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Itabirito this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
1 academy players handed senior numbers at Itabirito
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Rodrigues was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Thiago Gomes 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Itabirito this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 37, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
“I did not go to Pouso Alegre to sit and watch. I want to come back to Itabirito and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Itabirito training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Junior Pastorino 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Itabirito is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Rodrigues was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutTomás Gemelli knocks on the manager's door
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Itabirito 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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Itabirito, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Ruan 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 Junior Pastorino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Facundo Silva trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A muscle injury sidelines Gílson Alves for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Itabirito will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Itabirito this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Bruno Veiga and Itabirito agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Itabirito training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Rodrigues 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.
“I watch every Itabirito game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Pouso Alegre runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
In brief
The dugoutRonaldo asks for a word with the manager
Ruan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A muscle injury sidelines Gílson Alves for 21 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Itabirito will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Flávio Nunes 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.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Itabirito will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Bruno José 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Tiago Pedra 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.
13 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 27 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Alex Li has, at Itabirito, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Flávio Nunes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Itabirito, another week without a signature from Facundo Silva.
“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 Itabirito, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Itabirito will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Itabirito know which stage they are at.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Itabirito, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Itabirito know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Itabirito will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Itabirito 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 Pedro Rodrigues was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Itabirito, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Itabirito can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Treze have kept their man, and Itabirito go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Itabirito is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Itabirito will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The offer from Guarani for Ruan 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Itabirito have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
9 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
A season-long audition: São Paulo still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are Itabirito's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Itabirito will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Itabirito have done the hard part with Criciúma, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
10 clean sheets across a season, and the one award on the pitch nobody else is eligible for. Most keepers get through a whole career without a year like it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Rodrigues was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Itabirito asked and Nova Iguaçu said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Itabirito people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Flávio Nunes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Itabirito have made the call to Nova Iguaçu. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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. Pedro Rodrigues has moved up it.
Position 3, 31 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.84 at 40, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Serginho 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.
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 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
At 36 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.
Ruan 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Itabirito. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Rodrigues was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad23 Nov 2026
10 new faces, and Itabirito 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 dugout23 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.” Júnior Amaral kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Flávio Nunes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Luiz Carlos trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Itabirito and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
In brief
Looking aheadLooking ahead: the trip to Uberlândia
1 for Eduardo, marked 7.85, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Itabirito this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
Match31 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Itabirito. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Itabirito will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Rodrigues was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Itabirito lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Itabirito this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Cianorte; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Flávio Nunes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
18 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 13 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Itabirito lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
5 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.
At 36, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Mateus Guimarães in the middle of it, and Cascavel unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.18 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Gílson Alves 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.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Fidélis’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Itabirito.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Itabirito training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Rodrigues 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 dugout21 Sep 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.” Júnior Amaral, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Luiz Carlos trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.52 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 Itabirito this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 2‑0 win over Brasil de Pelotas, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Luís Xavier 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Rodrigues 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. Itabirito know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
The dugout14 Sep 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.” Júnior Amaral kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luis Campero will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Itabirito the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ruan 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.
Santos will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Lucas Arruda has pre-agreed a move to Itabirito, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Itabirito training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Rodrigues 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.
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.
11 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Luis Campero. 1‑0 against Marcílio Dias, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
Every debut is a small story about the future: Cristiano Borges, 14 years old, off the academy pitches and into the first team. The parents in the stand will keep the programme.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Monte Azul kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Itabirito will be asked about the last half hour all week.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Kauã Barbosa has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Itabirito have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Two goals and a mark of 8.05 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Ruan 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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Itabirito and Barra in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Danilo Lima is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Itabirito this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
0‑1 to Inter de Limeira, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad3 Aug 2026
7 new faces, and Itabirito 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.