Radu Negru 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Riley Hilaire-Clarke. 1‑0 against Concordia Chiajna, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Words at CSC Șelimbăr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gabriel Buta 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.
Marked 6.95 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
10 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
7.34, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. CSC Șelimbăr had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Andrei Keseru kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.98 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CSC Șelimbăr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Martim Francisco has just signed for CSC Șelimbăr, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Words at CSC Șelimbăr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick 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.
At 23 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.
He is 20, and nobody at CSC Șelimbăr signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.89 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at Braga B training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rúben Furtado 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.
At 23 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.
8 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.
Something was said to Sergio Barcia and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Martim Francisco 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.