Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ceará will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ceará this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadBruno Damiani falls out with a teammate over standards
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ceará lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The fee is $4.8M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Fluminense drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Ceará, and it is not being withdrawn.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Oleksandr Melnyk has agreed terms with Cruzeiro for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Filipe Bordon 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Damiani 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.
78 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Fluminense lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Fluminense will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
91 minutes played. Benjamín González found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Fortaleza went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
The offer from Boa for Marcelo Ajul was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.95 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fluminense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Dec 2038
Martinelli 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.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.86 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Fluminense, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Fluminense have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Martinelli 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Fluminense is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
18 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad19 Jul 2038
Words at Fluminense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Pablo Freytes 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Riquelme Felipe. 3‑2 against Atlético Mineiro, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Fluminense scored in the 99th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
The bid was some way short and Fluminense did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings12 Jul 2038
A brace, and Filip Černý takes the afternoon — 8.70
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Filip Černý provided it, and the 8.70 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Two goals and a mark of 8.60 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Fluminense is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fluminense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jul 2038
Martinelli 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.
110 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Fluminense lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Riquelme Felipe had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Sport Recife were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Máximo Magnoli will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Fluminense the goodbyes have quietly begun.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Riquelme Felipe 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.
Squad28 Jun 2038
Words at Fluminense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martinelli 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 147 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Fluminense lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jonathan Dellarossa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Fluminense the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad31 May 2038
Words at Fluminense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martinelli 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.
Daniel Queiroz 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.
Riquelme Felipe scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Botafogo, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Player ratings31 May 2038
Riquelme Felipe was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Fluminense they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad12 Apr 2038
Martinelli 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fluminense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Fluminense they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Emerson Buiu is living that version at Fluminense, and it tends to show in the first month.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fluminense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daniel Queiroz and Fluminense agree another 4 years.
Squad11 Jan 2038
Words at Fluminense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martinelli 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 at the club will say out loud who this signing is for, which is how you know exactly who it is for. Emerson Buiu has been brought in to take a shirt somebody is still wearing.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
415 appearances across 17 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Fluminense heard it as anything else.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Ceará will make the call about Riquelme Felipe this week. Fluminense have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Fluminense will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Fluminense have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Fluminense can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fluminense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Fluminense has been clear about where Juan Pablo Freytes stands, which is more than many ever get.
2‑0 against Sportivo Luqueno, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Marc Ménard was at the centre of the description.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Fluminense will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Fluminense hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fluminense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Fluminense will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
7 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.
Mihajlo Cvetković 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.
Squad12 Oct 2037
Words at Fluminense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martinelli 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.
13 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Atletico Goianiense? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Mihajlo Cvetković 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.
Squad14 Sep 2037
Words at Fluminense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martinelli 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.
18 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Position 9 and 22 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
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.
Heiderber Ramírez 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.
48 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Fluminense know it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fluminense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Marcos Oliveira will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Fluminense the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad24 Aug 2037
Martinelli 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marc Ménard signs something — a contract at Fluminense or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Sport Recife? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Luiz Gustavo 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.
Squad17 Aug 2037
Words at Sampaio Correa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wallace Davi 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Daniel Queiroz had Sampaio Correa level again within 3 minutes, and Fortaleza never got to play with a lead at all.
The words a physio says slowly. 30 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Two goals and a mark of 7.62 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sampaio Correa can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sampaio Correa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Luiz Gustavo 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.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 37 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
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 Jul 2037
Words at Sampaio Correa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Mazerochi 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.
Agustín Luna Semino 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Fluminense can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fluminense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Fluminense is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad29 Jun 2037
Martinelli 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: America Mineiro will make the call about Riquelme Felipe this week. Fluminense have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
The words a physio says slowly. 58 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Sampaio Correa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sampaio Correa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Luiz Gustavo 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Sampaio Correa and Boa, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 65 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sampaio Correa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Jun 2037
Words at Sampaio Correa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Victor Hugo 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 words a physio says slowly. 86 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sampaio Correa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Luiz Gustavo 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.
In brief
SquadVictor Hugo falls out with a teammate over standards
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fluminense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 May 2037
Martinelli 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad18 May 2037
The manager has not finished forgetting Gustavo Felix'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.
The words a physio says slowly. 107 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Sampaio Correa interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Interim Coach keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sampaio Correa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sampaio Correa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Pedro Emanuel has his answer from Sampaio Correa; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
In brief
Player ratingsAn afternoon Luiz Gustavo will want back