The Arouca Chronicle
Match11 Aug 2029
The wait goes on for Arouca
6 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.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Words exchanged at Arouca
Ignacio de Arruabarrena 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.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Javi Sánchez 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.
Boardroom13 Aug 2029
5 academy graduates step up at Arouca
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Match11 Aug 2029
3 matches without a goal for Arouca
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Player ratings13 Aug 2029
Nobody could get near Alfonso Trezza
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2029
Arouca rebuffed over Clément Lenglet
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atlético Madrid have kept their man, and Arouca go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market13 Aug 2029
Duarte Tavares steps up from the Arouca academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Duarte Tavares 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.
Market13 Aug 2029
Duarte Correia steps up from the Arouca academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Duarte Correia 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.
In brief
- Market Bernardo Pinto steps up from the Arouca academy
- Market Arouca promote Marco Castro from within
- Player ratings Nobody on the pitch touched Lee Hyun-Ju