Marked for Ivan Dias
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 Feb 2027
Wesley Borges 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Tuna Luso
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Néiser Villarreal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
No hiding place for Ivan Dias
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Dias, and the manager let it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
5 new faces, and Tuna Luso 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
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 Guilherme Teixeira is on it.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Willie 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 Tuna Luso, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match1 Feb 2027
Tuna Luso are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 29 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Wesley Borges and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Néiser Villarreal 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 dugout1 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Heitor Gatti, and the manager let it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Ivan Dias wants out of the dugout
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Tuna Luso will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Tuna Luso now.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
Matheus Mega 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Tuna Luso will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Market1 Feb 2027
The Vini Moura story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Vini Moura signs something — a contract at Tuna Luso or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad25 Jan 2027
Erick Bahia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Néiser Villarreal 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.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
Wages eat 182% of everything Tuna Luso earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Matheus Mega
“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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Matheus Mega: “I am not a substitute”
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Tuna Luso will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Market25 Jan 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Guarabira’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad18 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tuna Luso this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Eduardo 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 dugout18 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Ivan Dias
“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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
The medical room confirms 22 days on the sidelines for Victor Souza, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Tuna Luso are still strangers to each other
5 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 dugout18 Jan 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Dec 2026
The knee: Cabralzinho out for 29 days
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tuna Luso lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Tuna Luso
Glauco 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Tuna Luso
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Guilherme Teixeira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets21 Dec 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Ivan Dias
“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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Too much change too quickly at Tuna Luso
7 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.
Transfer targets21 Dec 2026
Athletico Paranaense 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.
The dugout21 Dec 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 Guilherme Teixeira is on it.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Gustavo Puskas 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 Gustavo Puskas trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
The knee: Cabralzinho out for 57 days
57 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tuna Luso lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Nobody could get near Vini Moura
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad23 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tuna Luso this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Tuna Luso
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paulo Henrique was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Ivan Dias
“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 dugout23 Nov 2026
A promise honoured at Tuna Luso
Something was said to Davi Alves and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Marked 7.35. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Danillo Ribeiro dropped after a run of poor form
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.
The dugout23 Nov 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 Guilherme Teixeira is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Oct 2026
The knee: Cabralzinho out for 92 days
92 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tuna Luso lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Erick Bahia 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Still nobody has beaten Tuna Luso
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Tuna Luso
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Eduardo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match17 Oct 2026
Three points for Tuna Luso, 2‑0 the final word against Maracanã in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Vini Moura runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Ivan Dias
“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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.15 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
One of those days for Marinho
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout7 Sep 2026
No hiding place for Ivan Dias
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ivan Dias, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Marinho named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Marinho is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Looking ahead7 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Imperatriz in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.