Marked for Thiago Saadeddin
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Jan 2029
The knee: Bruno Silva out for 14 days
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Guarani lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2029
Guarani have gone to Santos with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Market8 Jan 2029
“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 The request is on a desk at Guarani, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market8 Jan 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words exchanged at Guarani
Isaque 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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Alemão signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alemão commits to Guarani for another 4 years.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Guarani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nathan Melo 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 dugout8 Jan 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Guarani, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market20 Nov 2028
Luiz Andrade has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Guarani they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Isaque 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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
A row about effort at Guarani
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riquelme was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
Rafael Donato knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rafael Donato trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
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.
Looking ahead20 Nov 2028
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Paysandu in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Market20 Nov 2028
The name of Guilherme Cachoeira keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Guarani say nothing, which says plenty.
Market20 Nov 2028
Guarani have let the market know Rafael Donato can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Looking ahead20 Nov 2028
Looking ahead: Paysandu at home
A side in position 18 visits next. The result will not make anybody’s season and it could quietly break the shape of one, which is why the manager has been watching the video since Sunday.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Oct 2028
There were 11 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.
Market30 Oct 2028
Only the photograph left for Kewen
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kewen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Guarani the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Isaque in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Guarani this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Guarani training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riquelme 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.
Match28 Oct 2028
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Willian Amaral to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Thiago Saadeddin, and the manager let it.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
Rafael Freitas asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Bookings catch up with Riquelme
One yellow too many, and a match watched from the stand. The most avoidable absence in football, and Guarani will feel it on Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market29 May 2028
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.
Squad29 May 2028
A row about effort at Guarani
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riquelme was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad29 May 2028
A falling-out at Guarani
Rafael Freitas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match27 May 2028
Guarani rescue it on 92 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 92. CRB had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
The dugout29 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Jonathan Costa
“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.
The dugout29 May 2028
A promise honoured at Guarani
Something was said to Luiz Andrade and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Market29 May 2028
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Match27 May 2028
Guarani and CRB take a point apiece
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout29 May 2028
Isaque knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Guarani, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
-
Player ratings
Tomás Jerez was unplayable
-
Looking ahead
A reunion for Mirandinha