The ABC Sentinel
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Esquerdinha, 20, steals the show — 8.66
Marked 8.66 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Age has not caught Wallyson yet — 8.06
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.06 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Marcos Vinicius is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Match12 Sep 2026
Lima sends ABC past Oeste
It finished 3‑1, and it was Lima’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to ABC.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
ABC supporters have found a favourite in Esquerdinha
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Esquerdinha has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Market14 Sep 2026
Bruno Costa steps up from the ABC academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Bruno Costa 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
One of our own: Luís Ribeiro joins the ABC first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Luís Ribeiro is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at ABC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Leite 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Rodolfo Castro makes it 100
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
In brief
- Squad Esquerdinha in a row with a teammate
- The dugout A promise honoured at ABC
- Player ratings Nobody could get near Cayo Tenório