Marked for Gabriel Carioca
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words exchanged at Manaus
Caio Emerson 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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at Manaus training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mateo Cirigliano 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 dugout26 Feb 2029
Kaio Borges 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 Manaus, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market26 Feb 2029
Giuliano linked with a move away
The name of Giuliano keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Manaus say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
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.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Benjamín Rodríguez has written the date down.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match28 Oct 2028
Still nobody has beaten Manaus
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Tempers go at Manaus
Lucas Siqueira 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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
A row about effort at Manaus
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dione was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match28 Oct 2028
After 4 games, Manaus finally taste it again
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Iguatu; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
The manager makes an example of Joaquín Espina
“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 ratings30 Oct 2028
Marked 7.30. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
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.” Daniel Borges chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Match28 Oct 2028
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Iguatu defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.