Marked for Caio Borges
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
The match ball belongs to Carlos Batista, whose 4 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 45 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market24 Aug 2026
Shamakhi come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Central did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Match22 Aug 2026
6 goals as Central and Treze go for it
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Central and Treze, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Match22 Aug 2026
Three points for Central, 4‑2 the final word against Treze in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A performance of 9.68 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
He is 19 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.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Caio Borges 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Valentino Lucero at his very best
Marked 8.03. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Central.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match15 Aug 2026
Sergipe will want this one forgotten quickly: 9‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Central were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Match12 Aug 2026
Central out of the cup
Volta Redonda ended it 0‑3. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A brace, and Luís Pacheco takes the afternoon — 9.01
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Luís Pacheco provided it, and the 9.01 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad17 Aug 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Squad17 Aug 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
0-3. Going out of a cup is one afternoon; going out like that is a week of phone-ins, and the manager will hear every one of them.
Market17 Aug 2026
“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 Central, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Central
Antônio Souza 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between Central and Sergipe, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“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 Central, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market3 Aug 2026
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Central can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Antônio Souza 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Caio Braga again, and this time the name on the line is Syunik. Central are listening politely and promising nothing.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“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.
Match1 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“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 dugout3 Aug 2026
Antônio Souza 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 Antônio Souza trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.