“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 The request is on a desk at Mirassol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mirassol they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mirassol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Jan 2036
Words at Mirassol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Altamiranda 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.
A new face in his position, and Rodrigo Rodrigues suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Mirassol have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Diego Santos trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Mirassol interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Interim Coach keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
Rodrigo Rodrigues 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.
Squad5 Nov 2035
Words at Mirassol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Altamiranda 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Mirassol, another week without a signature from Lucca Caramico.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Eduardo Oliveira has come out of that comparison in the side, and Mirassol have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Lucca Caramico and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Oct 2035
Words at Mirassol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Altamiranda 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Mirassol are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Two goals and a mark of 8.18 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 Mirassol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mirassol they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mirassol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mirassol can pretend not to have heard.
Rodrigo Rodrigues 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Fabián Cabanillas has just signed for Mirassol, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad17 Sep 2035
Words at Mirassol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Altamiranda 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mirassol can pretend not to have heard.
Lucca Caramico 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Altamiranda was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
26 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.
Rodrigo Rodrigues 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.
Squad13 Aug 2035
Words at Mirassol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Altamiranda 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Kauã Rodrigo has his answer from Mirassol; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mirassol can pretend not to have heard.
The name of João Figueiredo has come up in conversations Mirassol were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Rodrigo Rodrigues and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Jun 2035
Words at Mirassol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustavo Mantuan 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.
Mirassol asked and Corinthians said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The words a physio says slowly. 24 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mirassol they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 Mirassol, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mirassol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Mirassol will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kauã Fernandes will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mirassol the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mirassol can pretend not to have heard.
Rodrigo Rodrigues 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mirassol, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Adriel da Silva has written the date down.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mirassol can pretend not to have heard.
12 seasons and 507 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
Rodrigo Rodrigues 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Aldo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Mirassol, another week without a signature from José Aldo.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.86 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Rodrigo Rodrigues 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Adriel da Silva has, at Mirassol, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Mirassol offered $3.0K; Fortaleza said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Palmeiras have kept their man, and Mirassol go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.