Matheuzinho 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 Wendel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Matías Abaldo. 1‑0 against Fluminense, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
7.62, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Corinthians had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout17 May 2032
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.” Interim Coach, 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.
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Corinthians lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Corinthians and Sporting CP have settled on $17.6M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Mirassol will want this one forgotten quickly: 6‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Corinthians were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and ABC waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Corinthians is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings29 Dec 2031
A brace, and Matías Abaldo takes the afternoon — 9.58
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Matías Abaldo provided it, and the 9.58 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Internacional will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Corinthians were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.28 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Corinthians is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Wendel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nuno Santos 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.
Marked 8.09 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.85 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Corinthians they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Matheuzinho 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 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Nadson is living that version at Corinthians, and it tends to show in the first month.
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.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Paulo Azzi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Corinthians the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Corinthians heard it as anything else.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Paulo Azzi has agreed terms with Fluminense for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Agustín Cardozo is a Corinthians player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Agustín Cardozo is living that version at Corinthians, and it tends to show in the first month.
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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 22 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Wendel 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Corinthians is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Otávio was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Corinthians has been clear about where João Neto stands, which is more than many ever get.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Corinthians know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Matheuzinho 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.
Squad31 Mar 2031
Words at Corinthians training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Otávio 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 decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Igor Felisberto and Corinthians agree another 5 years.
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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
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.
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.
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 Memphis Depay is on it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Corinthians have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Corinthians heard it as anything else.
Matheuzinho 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 Feb 2031
Words at Corinthians training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Otávio 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.
Nobody at Corinthians will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A new partner, a signature and a photograph nobody will remember. It funds a fortnight of wages, which is more than most headlines on this page can say for themselves.