Marked for Joaquín Molina
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Apr 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Água Santa can pretend not to have heard.
Market3 Apr 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Água Santa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Ricardo Centurión 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Matheus Menezes and Água Santa agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Apr 2028
A row about effort at Água Santa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filipe Dahora was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
The new man at Água Santa has worked with Douglas Nascimento before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
Nicholas has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Água Santa will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market3 Apr 2028
Kayan linked with a move away
The name of Kayan keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Água Santa say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad3 Apr 2028
“I will know when it is time. I am not there yet.” Emiliano Larrouy is 36, with 11 appearances behind him, and Água Santa will have to plan for whichever answer comes.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market20 Mar 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Água Santa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad20 Mar 2028
A row about effort at Água Santa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ricardo Centurión was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
Alisson gets it from the manager
“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.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
The new man at Água Santa has worked with Douglas Nascimento before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Market20 Mar 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Antônio Gabriel’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Willian Bahia has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
A brace, and David Nogueira takes the afternoon — 8.49
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. David Nogueira provided it, and the 8.49 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market20 Sep 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Água Santa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match18 Sep 2027
Tombense left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad20 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Água Santa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rafael Verrone was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Emiliano Larrouy 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.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
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 2‑3 Guilherme Barbosa left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“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 dugout20 Sep 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Antônio Gabriel trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market20 Sep 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Joaquín Molina has his answer from Água Santa; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 May 2027
Gabriel Vidal breaks a bone — 94 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 94 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match19 May 2027
Confiança ended it 1‑3. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Match22 May 2027
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad24 May 2027
Emiliano Larrouy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The terraces24 May 2027
He is 18 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.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Kayan in the eights
A performance of 8.18 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad24 May 2027
A row about effort at Água Santa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Filipe Dahora was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 May 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market18 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Emiliano Larrouy 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Água Santa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matheus Menezes 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Joaquín Molina and Água Santa agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market18 Jan 2027
He is 20, and nobody at Água Santa signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Michel Bennech, and the manager let it.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Kayan 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 Kayan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Nicholas gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Nicholas is on it.
Market18 Jan 2027
Cristiano linked with a move away
The name of Cristiano keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Água Santa say nothing, which says plenty.