Marked for Cristopher Cid
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Apr 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Douglas Souza and Rio Branco agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Alan Gobetti 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Rio Branco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Douglas Souza 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Filipe Ramón is no longer first choice
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Filipe Ramón has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
The dugout3 Apr 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.
Market3 Apr 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Rio Branco, another week without a signature from Cauê.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
Cauê knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Cauê trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market3 Apr 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Adeilson Maranhão signs something — a contract at Rio Branco or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
Marcelo Alves gets picked when it counts
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 Marcelo Alves is on it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Feb 2028
Alan Gobetti 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 Feb 2028
A row about effort at Rio Branco
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matheus Vieira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad14 Feb 2028
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Rio Branco are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Market14 Feb 2028
At 35, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
Market14 Feb 2028
The name of Matheus Vieira keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Rio Branco say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
Cristopher Cid asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Dec 2027
The knee: Mathias Fris out for 15 days
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rio Branco lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Jamerson 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Rio Branco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matheus Vieira 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.
Transfer targets27 Dec 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sport Recife have kept their man, and Rio Branco go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad27 Dec 2027
“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 Rio Branco know it.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
The manager makes an example of Cristopher Cid
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Oct 2027
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rio Branco lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad25 Oct 2027
47 days out for Rafael Pacheco after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Rio Branco will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Jamerson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Rio Branco
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matheus Vieira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match23 Oct 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
André Luiz 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 dugout25 Oct 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Market25 Oct 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Cristopher Cid has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Rio Branco.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Sep 2027
Felipe Amaral damages knee ligaments — 72 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 72 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market6 Sep 2027
“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 Rio Branco, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
Diego Clemente: 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.” Rio Branco have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad6 Sep 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Weriton and Rio Branco agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Jamerson 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Rio Branco training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Clemente 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.
Market6 Sep 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
“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
Uneasy
Squad15 Feb 2027
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rio Branco lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Jamerson in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rio Branco this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Yan Victor 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
7 new faces, and Rio Branco 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 dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Gabriel Mendes
“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.
Market15 Feb 2027
The Lucas Bento talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rio Branco know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Feb 2027
Matheus Vieira damages knee ligaments — 30 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 30 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Jamerson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Cristopher Cid gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Cristopher Cid has just signed for Rio Branco, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Rio Branco
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Clemente was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market8 Feb 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Renato Peixoto is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market8 Feb 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Marcelo Alves has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.