The Vasco da Gama Courier
Boardroom31 Mar 2036
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Vasco da Gama
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad31 Mar 2036
Words exchanged at Vasco da Gama
Pedro Rangel 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.
Squad31 Mar 2036
Wesley Barbosa 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.
The dugout31 Mar 2036
The manager makes an example of José Barbosa
“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 dugout31 Mar 2036
Igor Carvalho has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Vasco da Gama will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market31 Mar 2036
The Santiago Sosa talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Vasco da Gama know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad31 Mar 2036
“I want to play”: Henrique Figueiredo speaks
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Market31 Mar 2036
The clock does Mateus Xavier’s negotiating for him
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Vasco da Gama could ask drops and the wages Mateus Xavier can ask rise.
The dugout31 Mar 2036
Rafael Silva 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 Vasco da Gama, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
- The dugout A door opens for André Costa
- Squad Danilo Lima is out on the grass again