Marked for Márcio Bezerra
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market27 Sep 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.
Match25 Sep 2027
Altos take the points off GAS
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad27 Sep 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 dugout27 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tiago Fernandes, and the manager let it.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Guilherme Borges ran the middle of the pitch — 7.02
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 7.02, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Matheus Assis 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
The division's best last weekend was a GAS man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Guilherme Borges was the best thing in any of them.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The plan did not have a place for Douglas Araujo
Nobody at GAS is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market20 Sep 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at GAS, and it is not being withdrawn.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 dugout20 Sep 2027
This is not rotation. Douglas Araujo has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at GAS is pretending otherwise.
Match18 Sep 2027
GAS make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now GAS have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Tempers go at GAS
Tiago Fernandes 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Everybody at GAS saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 34 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
The terraces20 Sep 2027
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.
Match18 Sep 2027
GAS find a way past Retrô
Retrô made GAS work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.02, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Márcio Pacheco could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Aug 2027
22 days out for Douglas Araujo after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. GAS will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
This is not rotation. Douglas Araujo has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at GAS is pretending otherwise.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at GAS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Igor Rocha 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.
Market23 Aug 2027
“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.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Fábio Borges
“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 dugout23 Aug 2027
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.” Márcio Pacheco chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Match21 Aug 2027
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Tocantinópolis will be the happier side with the point.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Carlos Henrique trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market23 Aug 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Douglas Araujo’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Apr 2027
Tempers go at GAS
Tiago Fernandes 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A row about effort at GAS
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Igor Rocha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“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.
The dugout12 Apr 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.
Market12 Apr 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Rafael Pereira’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market12 Apr 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Lucas Assis may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market15 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Tempers go at GAS
Tiago Fernandes 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.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Jequié have kept their man, and GAS go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Tiago Fernandes 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.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Igor Freitas
“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.
Market15 Feb 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Rafael Pereira’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Dec 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.
Transfer targets28 Dec 2026
GAS asked and América de Natal said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Igor Rocha 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.
Transfer targets28 Dec 2026
A loan enquiry to Horizonte: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets28 Dec 2026
A loan enquiry to Central: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Tiago Fernandes 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
Triumph
Squad28 Sep 2026
A season average of 7.28 with 25 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Mosquito, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.25
A mark of 8.25 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
GAS make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now GAS have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Tempers go at GAS
Tiago Fernandes 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
GAS are at home on the road
4 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rafael Machado. 2‑0 against Iguatu, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tiago Fernandes, and the manager let it.
Match26 Sep 2026
GAS settle it inside twenty minutes
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Iguatu spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at GAS training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mosquito 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match12 Sep 2026
4‑0, and Rafael Machado took the headlines on an afternoon when everything GAS tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad14 Sep 2026
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 ratings14 Sep 2026
Mosquito, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.34
A mark of 8.34 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Remember the name: Mosquito
He is 21, he is averaging 7.05, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A performance of 9.43 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at GAS
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rafael Machado was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Tempers go at GAS
Carlos Henrique 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 terraces14 Sep 2026
He is 21 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
GAS are at home on the road
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.