Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Itabirito will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Itabirito training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Rodrigues 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.
Itabirito asked and Monte Azul said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Serginho 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.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Johandrys Herrera is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Itabirito lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Itabirito will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Pedro Rodrigues 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Cristiano Mendes 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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
“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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Roberto Souza to a room that had heard them before.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Itabirito lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
3 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.
Everybody at Itabirito saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Pedro Rodrigues'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.
63 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Itabirito lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Gabriel Morbeck scored in the 85th minute, Cascavel had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Itabirito took the lot.
Pablo Ricardo 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gabriel Morbeck. 1‑0 against Cascavel, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Roberto Souza, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Itabirito has been clear about where Luiz Carlos stands, which is more than many ever get.
70 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Itabirito lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Rodrigues was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 38 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Itabirito is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Itabirito this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Johandrys Herrera is 35 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Luís Araujo’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Itabirito needing him to play as if none of it matters.
77 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Itabirito lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Pedro Rodrigues 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.
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Roberto Souza on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
At 35 he has taken a place rather than been given one, and somebody else has to find something to say about it. Itabirito have a decision that made itself.
91 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Itabirito lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Eduardo provided it, and the 8.30 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.82 at 40, 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 Itabirito this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
They paid twice — for the ticket and for the journey — and got a 3-0 win for it. Away support is the truest kind precisely because nothing about it is convenient.
Ferroviária will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Nicolas has pre-agreed a move to Itabirito, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Denzel 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
8 new faces, and Itabirito are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Roberto Souza after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Tiaguinho is 38 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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against São Luiz? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Marcílio Dias held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Itabirito answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Luís Araujo 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 dugout24 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Roberto Souza to a room that had heard them before.
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.
Pedro Rodrigues 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.
Botafogo-SP will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Gregorio has pre-agreed a move to Itabirito, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Marked 8.27 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The goal that put Monte Azul ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Itabirito equalised, 3 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.