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 Raúl Navarro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Raúl Navarro was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Lucas Garrido 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.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 André Nogueira left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Porto Vitória will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Goiânia were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rodrigo Rangel provided it, and the 8.27 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Igor Borges did not need any: 8.36, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Igor Borges 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.
The dugout21 Sep 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.” André Nogueira, on a 4‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
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.
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Goiânia have 4 straight wins of it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Raúl Navarro 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 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” André Nogueira on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Igor Borges, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.43
A mark of 8.43 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.35 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Goiânia have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Two goals and a mark of 9.19 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
10 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Goiânia and Capital in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.