Marked for Brian Lopez
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom20 Mar 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Tuna Luso
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Thiago Alagoano and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Igor Pereira 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.
Boardroom20 Mar 2028
Wages eat 157% of everything Tuna Luso earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
No hiding place for Buba
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Buba, and the manager let it.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
Yuri 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 Yuri is on it.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
Elimar 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 Tuna Luso, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market20 Mar 2028
Guarabira linked with a move away
The name of Guarabira keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Tuna Luso say nothing, which says plenty.
Market20 Mar 2028
The clock does Gustavo Alexandria’s negotiating for him
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Tuna Luso could ask drops and the wages Gustavo Alexandria can ask rise.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market13 Mar 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words exchanged at Tuna Luso
Thiago Alagoano 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 dugout13 Mar 2028
This is not rotation. João Vitor has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Tuna Luso is pretending otherwise.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Igor Pereira 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.
Loan watch13 Mar 2028
Samuel wants to come home
“I did not go to Goianésia to sit and watch. I want to come back to Tuna Luso and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
Cleyton has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Tuna Luso 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
The formation has left Brian Lopez behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Tuna Luso will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
Caio César 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 Caio César trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market13 Mar 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Adrián Acevedo’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match9 Aug 2027
Every point is an argument now for Samtredia
Position 8 and 22 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market9 Aug 2027
Samtredia say no — this time
The offer from Torpedo Kutaisi for Julen Cordero was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market9 Aug 2027
Tony hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Samtredia can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Samtredia have done the hard part with Samgurali Tskaltubo, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Eric Barrios 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Julen Cordero 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.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Tbilisi have kept their man, and Samtredia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom9 Aug 2027
209% of the income goes out in wages at Samtredia
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Apr 2027
Eric Barrios and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Julen Cordero 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.
Match10 Apr 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Loan watch12 Apr 2027
“I did not go to Gagra to sit and watch. I want to come back to Samtredia and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 12 matches say the rest.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Davit Samurkasovi ran the middle of the pitch — 6.99
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 6.99, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A last season at home is what Tony is after
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daniel Suško, and the manager let it.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Samtredia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Samtredia until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Samtredia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julen Cordero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Alemão 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Samtredia
Eric Barrios 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Samtredia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitri Ghurtskaia 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 263% of the Samtredia income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
Eric Barrios and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Samtredia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitri Ghurtskaia 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Samtredia can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.