Marked for André Bezerra
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match23 Jun 2040
Corinthians make home a hard place to visit
45 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad25 Jun 2040
A knee injury of the worst kind for Marcos Leonardo
91 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Corinthians lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match23 Jun 2040
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Corinthians have 7 straight wins of it.
Squad25 Jun 2040
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market25 Jun 2040
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Corinthians they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings25 Jun 2040
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.95 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market25 Jun 2040
The offer from ABC for André Bezerra 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.
Squad25 Jun 2040
Kauã Elias 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.
Market25 Jun 2040
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match9 Jun 2040
The run at home goes on for Corinthians
44 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad11 Jun 2040
A knee injury of the worst kind for Elias Sahraoui
104 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Corinthians lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match9 Jun 2040
Nobody wants to play Corinthians right now
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Player ratings11 Jun 2040
Age has not caught Ryunosuke Sato yet — 8.34
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.34 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad11 Jun 2040
Kauã Elias 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.
Market11 Jun 2040
Nautico come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Corinthians did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad11 Jun 2040
Words at Corinthians training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karim Coulibaly 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.
Match9 Jun 2040
Three points for Corinthians, 3‑2 the final word against Bragantino in a contest settled by the finer margins.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Apr 2040
Jan Ziółkowski damages knee ligaments — 31 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 31 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.
Match9 Apr 2040
92 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market9 Apr 2040
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market9 Jan 2040
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Corinthians heard it as anything else.
Squad9 Jan 2040
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Corinthians this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Jan 2040
Words at Corinthians training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ângelo 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.
Squad9 Jan 2040
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” André Bezerra commits to Corinthians for another 3 years.
Squad9 Jan 2040
“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 Corinthians know it.
Market9 Jan 2040
The Gui Negão talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Corinthians know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match24 Dec 2039
Whatever happens, Corinthians do not lose
46 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Match24 Dec 2039
Corinthians make home a hard place to visit
37 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Market26 Dec 2039
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market26 Dec 2039
Kauã Santos wants to know where this is going
“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 Corinthians hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad26 Dec 2039
Kauã Elias 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.
Player ratings26 Dec 2039
Nobody could get near Kauã Elias
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad26 Dec 2039
Words at Corinthians training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karim Coulibaly 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.
Squad26 Dec 2039
A move Simon Simoni would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Simon Simoni is living that version at Corinthians, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad26 Dec 2039
Ian Subiabre is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.21 with 15 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad11 Jul 2039
A knee injury of the worst kind for Pape Demba Diop
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Corinthians lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match9 Jul 2039
18 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Match6 Jul 2039
A 1‑0 win over Juventude, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Match9 Jul 2039
Nobody wants to play Corinthians right now
7 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Market11 Jul 2039
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Enzo Barrenechea will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Corinthians the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market11 Jul 2039
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market11 Jul 2039
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad11 Jul 2039
Omar Marmoush 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.
Boardroom11 Jul 2039
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Beñat Gerenabarrena has agreed terms with Vasco da Gama for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad13 Jun 2039
Pape Demba Diop damages knee ligaments — 60 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 60 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.
Squad13 Jun 2039
The match ball belongs to Ian Subiabre, whose 4 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Match11 Jun 2039
5‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Market13 Jun 2039
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings13 Jun 2039
Age has not caught Ângelo yet — 7.82
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.82 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad13 Jun 2039
Omar Marmoush 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.
Match11 Jun 2039
Whatever happens, Corinthians do not lose
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad13 Jun 2039
Ângelo 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.
Player ratings13 Jun 2039
A performance of 10.00 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.