4 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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Uberlândia can tell you which week it ends in.
Jonatas Paulista 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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Paulo Peixoto to a room that had heard them before.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Márcio Ribeiro is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Uberlândia. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
5 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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Paulo Peixoto was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Uberlândia dressing room was either.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Uberlândia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Goiatuba defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Two goals and a mark of 8.71 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
The stands have turned
“Enough is enough. We have watched this for months.” 7 of the 15 senior players walked off to it, and the message was not aimed at any one of them.
6 goals in one match, Juan Carlos on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Uberlândia and Marcílio Dias.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Alex Fonseca 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. André Neves is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Daniel Assis 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Alex Ribeiro 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.