“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Portimonense can pretend not to have heard.
Two goals and a mark of 8.20 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
A brace, and Pedro Lima takes the afternoon — 8.17
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Pedro Lima provided it, and the 8.17 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The deal that would have taken Kim Taewon to Belenenses has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Portimonense with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Portimonense and Leiria in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Portimonense have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The phone has started ringing about Tiago Mamede again, and this time the name on the line is Gil Vicente. Portimonense are listening politely and promising nothing.
The offer from Feirense for Kim Taewon was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Everything agreed with Vasco da Gama, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Portimonense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Portimonense asked and Braga said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A point taken on 94 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Mo Dauda had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Portimonense can pretend not to have heard.
At 20 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Portimonense have done the hard part with Estoril Praia, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Tiago Mamede has agreed terms with Famalicao for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Portimonense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 22 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.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Portimonense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Mésaque Djú
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Portimonense, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Carlinhos provided it, and the 8.25 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Carlinhos 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Portimonense and Feirense, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thauan Lara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Portimonense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
0‑2 to Vizela, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Portimonense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Welinton Júnior 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.
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Marlon Júnior's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Portimonense can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Portimonense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Welinton Júnior was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Portimonense game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Paredes runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
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 used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Vizela in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Jarleysom scored, was marked 7.54, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Carlinhos 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.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Portimonense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. João Tornich 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Portimonense told Gustavo Nescau something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Marked 7.76. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Portimonense and Famalicao, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Two goals and a mark of 8.29 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Portimonense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Carlinhos. 3‑1 against Penafiel, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Thauan Lara 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.
50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Portimonense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Welinton Júnior 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.
1 for Carlinhos, marked 7.60, 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Carlinhos 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 general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Portimonense can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Portimonense asked and Rio Ave said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
7.91, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at AZ is saying, and nobody at Portimonense is enjoying the guessing.
Nacional paid $880.0K and Portimonense took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
João Reis 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.
Lusitânia Lourosa wanted more than $220.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Portimonense have paid $1.0M for Dany Jean, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
The offer went to Lusitânia Lourosa this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Dany Jean from Torreense for $1.0M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. David Simoes is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
SquadWords at Portimonense training over how hard people work
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Thauan Lara
Squad10 new faces, and Portimonense are still learning each other