Two or more conceded in each of the last 12 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Porto Velho can pretend not to have heard.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.02 for the rest of it.
6 goals in one match, Rodrigo Amorim on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Porto Velho and Goiânia.
Ricardo Santana 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Athletico Paranaense have kept their man, and Porto Velho go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Cerón was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ricardo Santana 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Porto Velho training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Cerón 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Porto Velho, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Douglas Fonseca has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Porto Velho training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Cerón 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Pedro Bezerra 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Porto Velho, another week without a signature from Wendel.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Diego Cerón's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Porto Velho, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diego Cerón was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Porto Velho, another week without a signature from Diego Cerón.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Diego Cerón was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Porto Velho, and both men came out saying it was fine.