Marked for Igor Rocha
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Jul 2028
55 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.
The terraces17 Jul 2028
The mood at Porto Velho has turned into something else
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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market17 Jul 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
This is not rotation. Rodrigo Bomfim has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Porto Velho is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
Failed medical for Pedrinho
The deal with Brasil de Pelotas died in the treatment room. Nobody will say what was found and everybody in the game will find out by Friday.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Thomaz Kenedi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match15 Jul 2028
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
Luiz Santos has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Porto Velho can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
The Porto Velho board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Squad3 Apr 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Felipe Afonso commits to Porto Velho for another 4 years.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Thomaz Kenedi 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.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
The owner puts $9.2K into Porto Velho
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Porto Velho training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rodrigo Bomfim 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.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Market3 Apr 2028
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
Italo Mota knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Italo Mota trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Feb 2028
A fracture rules Thomaz Kenedi out for 54 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Porto Velho will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Market7 Feb 2028
Martín Riffo hands in a written request
“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.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
Everything agreed with Corinthians, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Thomaz Kenedi 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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Wesley 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.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Porto Velho can only buy what they sell
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
The dugout7 Feb 2028
Italo Mota knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Italo Mota trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market13 Dec 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets13 Dec 2027
The deal with Grêmio is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Thomaz Kenedi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
The manager makes an example of Wesley
“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.
Transfer targets13 Dec 2027
A loan enquiry to Atlético Mineiro: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Guilherme Assis'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.
Market13 Dec 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Facundo Centurión’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market13 Dec 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Rodrigo Bomfim may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Jul 2027
23 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.
Match12 Jul 2027
3 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad12 Jul 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market12 Jul 2027
Sérgio Amaral hands in a written request
“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.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
A defender's goal wins it for Porto Velho — 7.45
1 for Rodrigo Bomfim, marked 7.45, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
The deal with Atlético Mineiro is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Thomaz Kenedi 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.
Match10 Jul 2027
Rodrigo Bomfim scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Tombense, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Brusque have kept their man, and Porto Velho go back to a list with one name crossed off it.