Marked for Ney
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match1 May 2027
4‑0, and Eduardo Fernandes took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Goiânia tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
The dugout3 May 2027
Rafael Carrilho: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Goiânia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad3 May 2027
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Danilo Cunha, 19, steals the show — 8.04
Marked 8.04 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad3 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Goiânia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Eduardo Fernandes was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.50. 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.
Match1 May 2027
Goiânia make home a hard place to visit
9 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.
The terraces3 May 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Danilo Cunha 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.
Match1 May 2027
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Eduardo Fernandes in the middle of it, and Luverdense unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Goiânia training over how hard people work
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Market
Antônio Bezerra is free to find somewhere else
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Squad
Ney is no longer first choice
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Apr 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match24 Apr 2027
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 10 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Rafael Carrilho 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.
Match24 Apr 2027
Água Santa left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Goiânia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bidu 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 dugout26 Apr 2027
Ney 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.
Loan watch26 Apr 2027
“I did not go to Sabah to sit and watch. I want to come back to Goiânia and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 15 matches say the rest.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Goiânia
Danilo Cunha 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 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Goiânia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ney was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Aranha has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Goiânia 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.
Market5 Apr 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Eduardo Fernandes’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market5 Apr 2027
Goiânia have made Matheus Tavares available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Capitão 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 Capitão trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad29 Mar 2027
Éder Cavalcante is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad29 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Goiânia
Danilo Cunha and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Goiânia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ney 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 dugout29 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Ney
“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 dugout29 Mar 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market29 Mar 2027
The Leozinho story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Leozinho signs something — a contract at Goiânia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
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The dugout
Tigre asks for a word with the manager
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Squad
Questions about Marcelinho on the training pitch
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The dugout
The manager comes out for Willian Silva
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match22 Mar 2027
Goiânia up to position 3
32 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market22 Mar 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Goiânia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Cristóbal Castillo 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.
Loan watch22 Mar 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Goiânia, and 3 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
No hiding place for Aranha
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aranha, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Ney 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 Ney trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Goiânia
Rafael Carrilho 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Éder Cavalcante is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Willian Silva 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 dugout1 Mar 2027
Paulo Amaral has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Goiânia 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Agustín Donoso has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
Matheus Tavares asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market8 Feb 2027
“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.
Market8 Feb 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Goiânia people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A move Adriano Sanabria would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Adriano Sanabria is living that version at Goiânia, and it tends to show in the first month.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Goiânia asked and Manaus said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Goiânia
Danilo Cunha 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Goiânia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ney was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Thiago Mella and Goiânia agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market8 Feb 2027
He is 20, and nobody at Goiânia signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad31 Aug 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 116 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match29 Aug 2026
Chastening afternoon for Goiânia
A 2‑5 beating by Boavista was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match25 Aug 2026
The cup run ends for Goiânia
0‑5 against Flamengo, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
Goiânia are taken apart by Flamengo — and the town wants answers
It finished 0-5. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 5 of the 25 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Match29 Aug 2026
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Goiânia and Boavista in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
One of those days for Leozinho
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.47, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
No hiding place for Ney
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ney, and the manager let it.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.