Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atlético Goianiense have kept their man, and Luverdense go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Luverdense have made the call to Inter de Limeira. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Luverdense have made the call to Cruzeiro. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Half the programme played, position 12, 15 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Aparecidense scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Carlos Silva 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Antônio Fonseca after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Heitor Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Lucas Werneck did not need any: 7.97, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Edson Kauã falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
9 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Antônio Fonseca after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
David Lucas 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 easiest signature of my career.” Fernando Guimarães and Luverdense agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Aslen 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Luverdense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Heitor Silva 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.
At 19 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
In brief
The dugoutDavid Lucas knocks on the manager’s door
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Gadiel did not need any: 7.89, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Luverdense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Vinícius Guimarães is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Fernando Guimarães has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gadiel. 1‑0 against Maricá, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Antônio Fonseca kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Leandro signs something — a contract at Luverdense or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 11 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Raphinha 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.
14 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Antônio Fonseca left the room before anybody could ask which.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Willian Queiroz and Luverdense agree another 3 years.
In brief
SquadHeitor Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
10 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
10 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Luverdense can tell you which week it ends in.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Luverdense will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Raphinha 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 point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Antônio Fonseca after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 9 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Luverdense will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Luverdense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edson Kauã 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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Luverdense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 20, and nobody at Luverdense signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.