The ASA Post
Match19 Sep 2026
A hiding for ASA
Beaten 0‑3 by Santa Cruz, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad21 Sep 2026
6 saves: Lucas Bento was the team
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad21 Sep 2026
João Branco signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” João Branco commits to ASA for another 3 years.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Lucas Rodrigues
“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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Branquinho out for 27 days
The medical room confirms 27 days on the sidelines for Branquinho, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
Nobody left the ASA 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Nobody could get near Keliton
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout21 Sep 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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Thiago Cunha to a room that had heard them before.
Squad21 Sep 2026
This league is too small for João Branco
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. ASA will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
In brief
- Market The Keliton talk will not go away
- The dugout No place in the plan for Igor Xavier
- Market ASA pick up João Branco for nothing