Marked for Samuel Sousa
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Jul 2030
Samuel Sousa hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Boavista can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Jul 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boavista this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market15 Jul 2030
Casa Pia are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Boavista will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom24 Jun 2030
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Boavista
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market24 Jun 2030
Tomás Castro hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Boavista can pretend not to have heard.
Market24 Jun 2030
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gonçalo Paciência will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Boavista the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad24 Jun 2030
Jorge Fernandes 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.
Squad24 Jun 2030
“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.
Squad24 Jun 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rayanne Fabre and Boavista agree another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Feb 2030
Beaten 1‑6 by Sporting CP, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Tomás Castro: 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.” Boavista have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market18 Feb 2030
Noël Atom has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Boavista they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Jorge Fernandes 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.
Squad18 Feb 2030
“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.
Boardroom18 Feb 2030
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad18 Feb 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Martim Almeida and Boavista agree another 4 years.
Player ratings18 Feb 2030
Ten men and a goalkeeper behind him, and it still finished in the net. He knew before anybody told him, and nobody at Boavista needed to.
The terraces18 Feb 2030
Everybody has an opinion about João Gonçalves
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Feb 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings11 Feb 2030
Defensive actions: 33, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Jorge Fernandes 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.
Squad11 Feb 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Herbert Paul and Boavista agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad11 Feb 2030
The manager makes an example of Stef Schreuders
“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.
Match9 Feb 2030
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Vitoria Guimaraes came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Player ratings11 Feb 2030
Shots: 6. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Player ratings11 Feb 2030
Shots: 5. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Player ratings11 Feb 2030
A mark of 5.79 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Sep 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 15 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad17 Sep 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Boavista this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match15 Sep 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Héctor Hernández. 3‑1 against Famalicao, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
A masterclass from Noël Atom
Marked 9.00 — 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.
Squad17 Sep 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ali Ghazi and Boavista agree another 5 years.
Squad17 Sep 2029
“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 ratings17 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
Shots: 5. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
The substitution nobody applauded turned out to be the whole story. Boavista were going nowhere until he came on.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Feb 2029
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match17 Feb 2029
Chastening afternoon for Boavista
A 0‑3 beating by Sporting CP was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Jorge Fernandes 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.
Squad19 Feb 2029
“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 Feb 2029
A masterclass from Rui Pedro
Marked 8.11 — 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.
Boardroom19 Feb 2029
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Player ratings19 Feb 2029
Shots: 7, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Player ratings19 Feb 2029
Isaac keeps on missing
Shots: 10, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Player ratings19 Feb 2029
Marked 5.27, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 29 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad2 Oct 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market2 Oct 2028
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Boavista heard it as anything else.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Jorge Fernandes 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.
Squad2 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Zaidu Sanusi, and the manager let it.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
A performance of 8.59 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match30 Sep 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Isaac. 1‑0 against Pacos de Ferreira, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Rui Pedro runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The terraces2 Oct 2028
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Sep 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad11 Sep 2028
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market11 Sep 2028
Wellington has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Boavista they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Jorge Fernandes 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.
Match9 Sep 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Isaac. 2‑1 against Vizela, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.03, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad11 Sep 2028
29 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
Rui Pedro runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The terraces11 Sep 2028
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.