Marked for Dudu
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Apr 2027
Juan Arango hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what GAS can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Dávisson in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at GAS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Éder Queiroz, and the manager let it.
Market12 Apr 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Vitor Borges’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Dudu 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Nicolás Peralta is not doing himself any favours
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Apr 2027
“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 GAS know it.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Tempers go at GAS
Nicolás Peralta 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 dugout5 Apr 2027
Dudu is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Squad5 Apr 2027
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to César Moura, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A strip of cloth that decides nothing on the pitch and tells the dressing room whose opinion counts. The manager has made a statement without making one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 Mar 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at GAS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Matheus Assis is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad22 Mar 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 GAS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“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 watch22 Mar 2027
“I did not go to Horizonte to sit and watch. I want to come back to GAS and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Bruno Lopes'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.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Vitor Borges knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at GAS, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market22 Mar 2027
The Bruno Lopes question follows GAS around
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Bruno Lopes’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market22 Mar 2027
GAS have made Juan Arango available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Mar 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Bruno Lopes commits to GAS for another 3 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Tempers go at GAS
Nicolás Peralta 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
GAS are still strangers to each other
5 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.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
Dudu is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
Diego Andrade 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
Uneasy
Market8 Feb 2027
Juan Arango hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what GAS can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
The GAS board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“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; GAS are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Tempers go at GAS
Edmilson Júnior 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 dugout8 Feb 2027
“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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Too much change too quickly at GAS
6 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.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Dudu is still paying for one afternoon at GAS
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.
Market8 Feb 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Diego Andrade signs something — a contract at GAS or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at GAS would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Jan 2027
Renato Moreira damages knee ligaments — 18 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around GAS people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market11 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what GAS can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
GAS asked and Maricá said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Tempers go at GAS
Nicolás Peralta 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
GAS are still strangers to each other
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.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
Dudu 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
GAS and Juan Arango are talking past each other
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Renato Moreira
53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. GAS lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market7 Dec 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what GAS can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 Dec 2026
Ferroviário come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and GAS did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market7 Dec 2026
América de Natal pay $2.0M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Transfer targets7 Dec 2026
Everything agreed with Boavista, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Thiago Rocha, and the manager let it.
Market7 Dec 2026
The phone has started ringing about Márcio Araujo again, and this time the name on the line is Trem. GAS are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad7 Dec 2026
João Freitas in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at GAS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets7 Dec 2026
A loan enquiry to Inter de Limeira: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Renato Moreira
67 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. GAS lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match21 Nov 2026
4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.50, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at GAS
Nicolás Peralta 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 terraces23 Nov 2026
GAS supporters have found a favourite in Vitor Borges
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Vitor 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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Marked 8.34 — 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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Diego Andrade was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.28. 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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Fernando Moura kept it short after the 4‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Renato Moreira
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. GAS lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market16 Nov 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 GAS, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” GAS may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Tempers go at GAS
Nicolás Peralta 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Douglas Peixoto, and the manager let it.
Market16 Nov 2026
The Thiago Rocha talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. GAS know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Dudu knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at GAS, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market16 Nov 2026
Pouso Alegre had somebody in the stand with a notebook, and he was not there for the pies. Watching is free; the next step is not.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Home comforts ahead for GAS
Humaitá, position 15, come to town on Saturday. Nobody will call it a big game and nobody at the club will be treating it as anything else.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Renato Moreira
81 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. GAS lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market9 Nov 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 GAS, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match7 Nov 2026
4 matches without a win for GAS
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around GAS are no longer polite ones.
Squad9 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at GAS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match7 Nov 2026
1‑3 to Sampaio Corrêa, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vitor Martins, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Fernando Moura after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
One moment undoes Dudu
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Dudu is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 19 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at GAS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Igor Peixoto, and the manager let it.
Market12 Oct 2026
The name of Nicolás Peralta keeps appearing in other people's back pages. GAS say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Questions about Dudu on the training 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.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
They sit in position 6 and they will be waiting. Away form is where a season shows its true character, and this side has a point to make about its own.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
No sign of nerves from Rafael Martins at 21 — 8.01
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Rafael Martins did not need any: 8.01, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A falling-out at GAS
Nicolás Peralta and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
At 21, Rafael Martins is already the best thing here
An average of 7.00 in a first team he is several years too young for. GAS have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
145% of the income goes out in wages at GAS
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
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.
Match3 Oct 2026
GAS get the job done against Trem
A 2‑0 win over Trem, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.40 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.21 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Dudu is the division's best young player this month
At 19 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. GAS will try very hard not to make too much of it.
In brief
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Squad
Dudu makes the team of the month
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Roberto Martins dropped after a run of poor form
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market14 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what GAS can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Vitor Martins goes up and wins it — 7.55
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 7.55 for the rest of it.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Dudu pops up at the right end — 7.31
7.31, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Samuel Teixeira 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Three points for GAS, 3‑1 the final word against Manauara in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.21, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Vitor Borges at his very best
Marked 8.12. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at GAS.
The dugout14 Sep 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.
In brief
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The terraces
The away end at Manauara goes home happy
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The dugout
A promise honoured at GAS
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict