Thiago Gomes 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Samuel Lima 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Antônio Cunha signs something — a contract at Horizonte or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Horizonte have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Thiago Gomes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Horizonte training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Lima 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 month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Samuel is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Lucas Rodrigues wants continental football; whether Horizonte can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Horizonte this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Horizonte training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Lima 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.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Rodrygo Mendes was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Horizonte dressing room was either.
Nobody at Horizonte is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Horizonte moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Rodrygo Mendes, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Horizonte this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Horizonte
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Castillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 22 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.
Match17 Apr 2027
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Horizonte. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Bruno Batista has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Bruno Fonseca has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Victor Assis has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Juninho 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 Samuel Lima was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samuel Lima was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 36, 4 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Juninho 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Samuel Lima 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.
Position 3, 34 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Castillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 36 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samuel Lima was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Horizonte that is a harder question to answer.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Horizonte this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Castillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Lucas Rodrigues's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Horizonte know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Horizonte would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Diego Rangel on the training pitch
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Tiago Gomes
Juninho 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Horizonte training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Castillo 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lucas Rodrigues trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Horizonte can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Horizonte this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Horizonte training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juninho 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rodrygo Braga trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Horizonte know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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 Horizonte, and it is not being withdrawn.
Juninho 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Brasil de Pelotas have kept their man, and Horizonte go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Samuel Lima 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.
Pedro Mantovani is 20, and Horizonte have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
He is 20, and nobody at Horizonte 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 a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Horizonte know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
In brief
The dugoutDiego Rangel asks for a word with the manager
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Guarani is saying, and nobody at Horizonte is enjoying the guessing.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Rodrigo Fonseca is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Juninho 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Horizonte training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Lima 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.
Brasil de Pelotas have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Horizonte, another week without a signature from Zé Vitor.
In brief
The dugoutBruno Machado knocks on the manager's door
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Horizonte will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Bruno Machado is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The deal with Criciúma is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Horizonte asked and Criciúma said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Everybody at Horizonte saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Floresta arrived with $140.0K and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
Felipe Souza has gone, the accounts have $140.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $22.2K — a club that wants Mateus Lustosa enough to be asked twice.
Horizonte have gone to Náutico 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.
The offer went to Boavista this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Horizonte this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Samuel Lima 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.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Lucas Rodrigues's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Position 3, 34 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Horizonte have had the benefit of it.
Horizonte had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Corinthians, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
$33.0K on the table at Náutico. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Rodrigo Fonseca is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
9 clean sheets across a season, and the one award on the pitch nobody else is eligible for. Most keepers get through a whole career without a year like it.
Horizonte asked and Sport Recife said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Juninho and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Horizonte training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Castillo 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.
Horizonte have made the call to Corinthians. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rodrygo Braga trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Horizonte lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Horizonte can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Horizonte 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.
The goal that put Sergipe ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Horizonte equalised, 1 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Position 3, 34 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Lucas Rodrigues's mistake
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Horizonte lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Horizonte, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Rodrygo Braga, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.83
A mark of 7.83 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Juninho 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Rodrygo Braga has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rodrygo Braga, and the manager let it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Horizonte training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Heitor 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 words a physio says slowly. 29 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.
Position 3, 31 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Juninho 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Horizonte training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Castillo 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Horizonte know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. Horizonte would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.
Somebody from Retrô has seen every one of Tiago Silva’s last few games. Nobody travels that far that often out of curiosity, and everybody at Horizonte knows it.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Horizonte this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Heitor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two goals and a mark of 8.53 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Horizonte is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
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.
He is 21 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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Santa Cruz spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
In brief
Player ratingsJuninho was on a different afternoon to everybody else
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tiago Silva signs something — a contract at Horizonte or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Horizonte this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Rodrigo Fonseca is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 6 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Horizonte training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Castillo 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Diego Rangel is the division's best young player this month
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Horizonte will try very hard not to make too much of it.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Two goals and a mark of 8.61 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Juninho 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Horizonte training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Facundo Castillo 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 22 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 ratings28 Sep 2026
Tiago Silva was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.33. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Marked 8.07 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Horizonte have 5 straight wins of it.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Diego Rangel, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.75
A mark of 7.75 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Lucas 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.
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Diego Rangel has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Heitor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Rodrygo Mendes on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Horizonte lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Juninho 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: Rodrygo Braga. 1‑0 against América de Natal, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 7.09, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Júnior Figueiredo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Rodrygo Mendes, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Horizonte will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Horizonte lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Two goals and a mark of 8.88 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Rodrygo Braga did not need any: 7.96, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Lagarto spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Skënderbeu Korçë will make the call about Diego Rangel this week. Horizonte have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Ceará go through and Horizonte go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A brace, and Tiago Silva takes the afternoon — 8.73
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tiago Silva provided it, and the 8.73 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.98 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Facundo Castillo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Fernando Braga has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.