Marked for Joaquim
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Sep 2027
Felipe Avenatti damages knee ligaments — 139 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 139 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match25 Sep 2027
Whatever happens, Avaí do not lose
9 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Market27 Sep 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Avaí is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Squad27 Sep 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 Avaí this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Avaí
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alix Vinicius was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of João Victor
“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.
Loan watch27 Sep 2027
Joaquim counts the days
“I watch every Avaí game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Nova Iguaçu runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Aug 2027
The knee: Luiz Henrique out for 120 days
120 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Avaí lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match28 Aug 2027
Nobody wins at Avaí
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
“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.
Market30 Aug 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Avaí is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad30 Aug 2027
The step up is real for João Pedro
At 19 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Avaí
João Pedro Tchoca 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.
Match28 Aug 2027
6 unbeaten for Avaí
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Avaí did not have in the autumn.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Avaí training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alix Vinicius 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 terraces30 Aug 2027
The crowd has taken to João Pedro
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match7 Aug 2027
3‑0, and Gustavo Oliveira took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Nova Iguaçu tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Match9 Aug 2027
Nova Iguaçu refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 38 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
A brace, and Gustavo Oliveira takes the afternoon — 8.42
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gustavo Oliveira provided it, and the 8.42 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match7 Aug 2027
Nova Iguaçu make home a hard place to visit
12 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.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Matheus Guedes pops up at the right end — 7.61
7.61, 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.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
Joaquim: 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.” Nova Iguaçu have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match7 Aug 2027
Whatever happens, Nova Iguaçu do not lose
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Carlos Servín and Nova Iguaçu agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Aug 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 Nova Iguaçu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Tiquinho Soares, 36, rolls back the years — 7.94
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.94 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market2 Aug 2027
“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 Avaí, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
Léo Aragão: 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.” Avaí have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market2 Aug 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Avaí they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad2 Aug 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Tiquinho Soares and Avaí agree another 2 years.
Squad2 Aug 2027
A season average of 7.33 with 15 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad2 Aug 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 Avaí this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Avaí training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alix Vinicius 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.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Avaí asked and America de Cali said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.