“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Goiânia can pretend not to have heard.
Thiaguinho 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.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Words at Goiânia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lázaro Romero 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.
Squad4 Mar 2030
6 new faces, and Goiânia are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
The words a physio says slowly. 20 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 Goiânia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Lázaro Romero 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 Júnior Oliveira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Goiânia know it.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Goiânia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 The request is on a desk at Goiânia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Thiaguinho and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Jan 2030
Words at Goiânia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lázaro Romero 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.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Goiânia know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Goiânia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Goiânia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Renan has agreed terms with Treze for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Goiânia have gone to Vitória 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.
$46.0K was the most the club would pay and Vila Nova were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Júnior Oliveira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Goiânia are no longer polite ones.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Words at Goiânia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lázaro Romero 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.
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.
América de Natal 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lázaro Romero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Daniel Costa signs something — a contract at Goiânia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Goiânia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
19 graduates, from a department now rated 7 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Goiânia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Lázaro Romero 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 Júnior Oliveira 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 dugout5 Nov 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Felipe Cavalcante was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Goiânia dressing room was either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lázaro Romero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lázaro Romero. 1‑0 against Central, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
16 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Felipe Cavalcante could afford to be generous.
Successful dribbles: 12. 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.
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.
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 given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Goiânia know it.
“I watch every Goiânia game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Maranhão runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad15 Oct 2029
5 new faces, and Goiânia are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
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.
Penedense next, and one man in the Goiânia dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Goiânia, another week without a signature from Fernando Neto.
0‑5 against Juazeirense, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“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.
Gabriel Assis 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Wesley Oliveira is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Lázaro Romero 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Goiânia can tell you which week it ends in.
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.
“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; Goiânia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Felipe Cavalcante chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“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 Goiânia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Lázaro Romero 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jair provided it, and the 8.12 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lázaro Romero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 23 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Felipe Cavalcante on a 3‑2 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Goiânia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Dila waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Goiânia is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Carlos Eduardo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Goiânia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Lázaro Romero 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 Júnior Oliveira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $361.3K of what Goiânia paid for Luiz Henrique is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.49 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 17 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
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.
Goiânia offered $220.0K; Horizonte 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Luverdense waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Goiânia is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Lázaro Romero 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.
$71.0K on the table at Figueirense. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Goiânia have gone to Criciúma 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Goiânia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Goiânia can pretend not to have heard.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Maricá is saying, and nobody at Goiânia is enjoying the guessing.
$260.0K on the table at Internacional. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Júnior Oliveira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Goiânia, and it is not being withdrawn.
7 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.
1 for Jair, marked 7.75, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Lázaro Romero 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 Júnior Oliveira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Goiânia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Athletic Club go through and Goiânia 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.
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.
13 combined actions and 6.97. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Júnior Oliveira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Goiânia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Goiânia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Goiânia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Júnior Oliveira 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 Sousa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Goiânia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Federico Moreno was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Fernando Rodrigues 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Danilo Cunha has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. João Nogueira is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The words a physio says slowly. 22 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Goiânia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Goiânia can pretend not to have heard.
Lázaro Romero 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 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ian Colina signs something — a contract at Goiânia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Goiânia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Goiânia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Lázaro Romero 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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Goiânia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Goiânia would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Goiânia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Goiânia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Goiânia, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Federico Moreno was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 1 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Gabriel Assis signs something — a contract at Goiânia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
43 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Goiânia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Goiânia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
This is not rotation. Gabriel Ferreira has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Goiânia is pretending otherwise.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at Goiânia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ian Colina 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Júnior Oliveira signs something — a contract at Goiânia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
50 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Goiânia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 112 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Goiânia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Júnior Oliveira 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Federico Moreno was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Daniel Costa is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 57 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 119 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Goiânia can pretend not to have heard.
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 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.
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.
64 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Goiânia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Goiânia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Goiânia, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
This is not rotation. Arthur Queiroz has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Goiânia is pretending otherwise.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Ian Colina 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.
“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 1 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Gabriel Assis signs something — a contract at Goiânia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
71 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Goiânia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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 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 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Goiânia will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Júnior Oliveira signs something — a contract at Goiânia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
78 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Goiânia 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 Goiânia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Lázaro Romero 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.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Words at Goiânia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sousa 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.
8 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.
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 85 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.
Lázaro Romero 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.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words at Goiânia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ian Colina 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 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.
92 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Goiânia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
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 Gabriel Assis signs something — a contract at Goiânia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Gabriel Ferreira may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
99 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Goiânia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Danilo Rangel has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
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 given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Goiânia know it.
106 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Goiânia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Luiz Henrique and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Words at Goiânia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ian Colina 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.
8 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.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Goiânia, another week without a signature from Fernando Neto.
113 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Goiânia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Karvan waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Goiânia is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Goiânia, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Bhayangkara Presisi for João Costa 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.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Thiago Rodrigues has agreed terms with Sergipe for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Lázaro Romero 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Gaku Tomiyasu has just signed for Goiânia, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Federico Moreno was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 120 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Goiânia can pretend not to have heard.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. São Paulo have kept their man, and Goiânia go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Goiânia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Goiânia have gone to Operário-MS 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.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Goiânia know which stage they are at.
The words a physio says slowly. 127 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.
$1.9M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
“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 Goiânia, and it is not being withdrawn.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $352.1K of what Goiânia paid for Ronald is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
He is going to Coritiba, the club has $1.9M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
The offer went to Central 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.
134 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Goiânia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Goiânia can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Guarany de Bagé 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.
Gabriel Assis 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.
The offer went to Operário-MS 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.
Goiânia asked and Central said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
In brief
SquadWords at Goiânia training over how hard people work
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Goiânia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Goiânia can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Volta Redonda for Gabriel Assis 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.
The name of Vinícius Carvalho has come up in conversations Goiânia were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ian Colina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Goiânia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Goiânia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Júnior Oliveira 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.
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.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Ronald has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ian Colina trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Goiânia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
There were 85 minutes on the clock and Ferroviário had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Goiânia did not stop to explain themselves.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Goiânia 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 Goiânia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Ian Colina 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, 55 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.
“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.
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.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Goiânia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Goiânia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Júnior Oliveira 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.
“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.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Ian Colina 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.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.25 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Goiânia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Goiânia, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
“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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Goiânia can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Goiânia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Júnior Oliveira 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 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Vinícius Carvalho 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.
Marked 8.28 — 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.
In brief
Player ratingsFernandinho was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Squad6 new faces, and Goiânia are still learning each other
“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 Goiânia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
1‑3 to Sergipe, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Ian Colina 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Júnior Oliveira, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Aug 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Felipe Cavalcante to a room that had heard them before.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“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 Goiânia, and it is not being withdrawn.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.67 for the rest of it.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Goiânia will try again when the window opens; Maringá may not be selling by then.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Marcílio Dias waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Goiânia is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Goiânia, and it is not being withdrawn.
1 for Júnior Oliveira, marked 7.36, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Niklas Kirkemo has, at Goiânia, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Lázaro Romero 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 Ian Colina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Goiânia ran out of time with Imperatriz. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never 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 Goiânia can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
$61.0K settles it between the clubs for Fabricio Díaz
Imperatriz have accepted the money. What Goiânia do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
$23.0K on the table at Barcelona de Ilhéus. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ian Colina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
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.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Goiânia can pretend not to have heard.
Júnior Oliveira 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Paysandu have kept their man, and Goiânia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Fernandinho had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Treze were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
“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 Goiânia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Júnior Oliveira 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.
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.
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.