Marked for Romário
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Fabrício Moura commits to Humaitá for another 4 years.
Market12 Oct 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Vinícius 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Romário'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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Humaitá
Douglas Lukaku 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Danilo Lopes is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market14 Sep 2026
The ambition of Danilo outgrows Humaitá early
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
Match12 Sep 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Half-satisfied: Pedro Rangel on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Romário 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Humaitá would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The plan did not have a place for Márcio Rodrigues
Nobody at Humaitá 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 20 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match12 Aug 2026
The small margins put Humaitá out
Out, 0‑15 to Fluminense, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
A cup embarrassment at Fluminense follows Humaitá home
0-15. Going out of a cup is one afternoon; going out like that is a week of phone-ins, and the manager will hear every one of them.
Match15 Aug 2026
4 matches without a win for Humaitá
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Humaitá are no longer polite ones.
Match12 Aug 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 15 goals between Humaitá and Fluminense, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
At 16 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Humaitá dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout17 Aug 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 0‑1 Pedro Rangel left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
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Player ratings
A costly moment from Vitinho
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Squad
Éder Barbosa makes his debut at 14
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The dugout
The manager has not finished forgetting Romário's mistake
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Aug 2026
23 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match8 Aug 2026
1‑7 to Independência, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 4 of the 12 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Match8 Aug 2026
Romário among the goals in a wild afternoon
8 goals in one match, Romário on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Humaitá and Independência.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Éder Barbosa has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Fábio Moura 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Careca steps up from the Humaitá academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Careca has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Danilo Silva 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.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Humaitá dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Player ratings
One moment undoes Romário
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Squad
A first senior shirt for Fábio Moura