Marked for Alejandro Garay
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match27 Nov 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation Juventude did not have in the autumn.
Squad29 Nov 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 Juventude this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match27 Nov 2027
Juventude make home a hard place to visit
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.
Match27 Nov 2027
A 2‑1 win over Palmeiras, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings29 Nov 2027
Marked 8.21 — 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.
The dugout29 Nov 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.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Marcelo Soares on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Squad29 Nov 2027
A season average of 7.24 with 3 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad29 Nov 2027
A Juventude teenager takes the young player award
Alejandro Garay is 20, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match20 Nov 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 9 matches without defeat is a foundation Juventude did not have in the autumn.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Evertton Araújo 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 dugout22 Nov 2027
Messias 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.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Marked 8.27 — 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.
Loan watch22 Nov 2027
“I did not go to Juazeirense to sit and watch. I want to come back to Juventude and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 47 matches say the rest.
Match20 Nov 2027
A 2‑2 draw with Sport Recife leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
Patryck Lanza has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Juventude 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.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Marcelo Soares was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Juventude dressing room was either.
Squad22 Nov 2027
One booking too many, and Messias sits out. Juventude lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Oct 2027
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Máximo Suazo gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Máximo Suazo has just signed for Gimnasia La Plata, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Alejo Antilef 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.
Match2 Oct 2027
Level with 87 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Gimnasia La Plata had all but put away. Rosario Central will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Loan watch4 Oct 2027
“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 Gimnasia La Plata, and 12 appearances in 11 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout4 Oct 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.
Match2 Oct 2027
It needed Marcelo Torres to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Rosario Central, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
A defender's goal wins it for Juventude — 7.67
1 for Evertton Araújo, marked 7.67, 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
The step up is real for Ray
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Juventude
Rodrigo Sam 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 terraces20 Sep 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Relebohile Mofokeng has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Rodrigo Sam
“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 ratings20 Sep 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.88 on the card, and the Juventude support went home talking about one name.
Loan watch20 Sep 2027
“I watch every Juventude game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Azuriz runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
A costly moment from Davi Góes
One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at Juventude, and it is a cruel one.