Marked for Cleiton Silva
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Dec 2026
Cleiton Silva breaks a bone — 158 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 158 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $22.2K — a club that wants Matheus Matias enough to be asked twice.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Leonardo in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sousa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets7 Dec 2026
$18.0K on the table at Nova Iguaçu. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets7 Dec 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ferroviária have kept their man, and Sousa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Sousa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Antonio 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.
Market7 Dec 2026
The name of João Vitor has come up in conversations Sousa were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Miguel Antonio
“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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market9 Nov 2026
Gabriel Souza 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 Sousa can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Age has not caught Cleiton Silva yet — 7.90
At 39 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.90 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.89 for the rest of it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Leonardo in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sousa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Miguel Antonio
“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.
Match7 Nov 2026
It needed Leonardo to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Lagarto, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Sidimar signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sidimar and Sousa agree another 1 years.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Willian Porto was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Sousa dressing room was either.
Market9 Nov 2026
Experience through the door at Sousa
Sidimar arrives at 34 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Oct 2026
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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Leonardo scores twice — 8.63
Two goals and a mark of 8.63 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
At 39 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.24, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Sousa
Leonardo 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Sousa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Antonio 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Leonardo. 2‑0 against ASA, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Martín Ramírez, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Pará has outgrown this division
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Sousa know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Market26 Oct 2026
Still no ink between Sousa and Pará
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sousa, another week without a signature from Pará.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Leonardo scores twice — 8.83
Two goals and a mark of 8.83 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market19 Oct 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Hebert Cristian will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sousa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
At 37 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.20, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Cleiton Silva and Sousa agree another 1 years.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Sousa
Leonardo 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Time is catching up with Aírton
Everybody at Sousa saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 37 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Match17 Oct 2026
Treze made Sousa work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Match17 Oct 2026
Leonardo at the heart of a fast Sousa start
3 goals inside twenty minutes with Leonardo in the middle of it, and Treze unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leandro Alves, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Sousa
Leonardo 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
0‑2 to América de Natal, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Italo Mota
“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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Aírton beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 13. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
No place in the plan for Ibson Melo
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sousa, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market28 Sep 2026
2 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Sousa money.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Cleiton Silva makes the position his own
At 39 he is in the side on merit and somebody else is watching. Places at Sousa are won quietly and lost loudly, and this one was won.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Up for the corner, and Hebert Cristian delivers — 7.72
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Hebert Cristian scored, was marked 7.72, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Sousa
Italo Mota 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Sousa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Miguel Antonio 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 dugout14 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market14 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Vinícius Pacheco has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market14 Sep 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Thiago Figueiredo is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Match12 Sep 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Hebert Cristian’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Sousa.
Market14 Sep 2026
“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 dugout14 Sep 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Willian Porto on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Sousa
Leonardo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The formation has left Italo Mota behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Sousa will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Sousa
20 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Squad7 Sep 2026
This league is too small for Braian Aquino
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Sousa will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Cleiton Silva knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sousa, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market7 Sep 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
João Vitor gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market7 Sep 2026
Sousa bring in an old head
Braian Aquino is 33 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Market7 Sep 2026
The Leonardo story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Leonardo signs something — a contract at Sousa or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Aug 2026
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.
Match12 Aug 2026
Sousa bow out of the cup
Atlético Goianiense go through and Sousa go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Match15 Aug 2026
4 matches without a win for Sousa
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Sousa are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Jhonatan Almeida has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Sousa have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Sousa
Hebert Cristian 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 ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Filipe Alves and Sousa agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
Half-satisfied: Willian Porto on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ciro Henrique, and the manager let it.