Jorge Hernández 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Maritimo has been clear about where Enrique Peña Zauner stands, which is more than many ever get.
“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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Maritimo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tyler Keating 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.44 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Maritimo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raphael Guzzo 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maritimo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Lucas Reis kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Maritimo, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Gábor Szalai'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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Maritimo, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. João Rafael is living that version at Maritimo, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Raphael Guzzo 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Botafogo have kept their man, and Maritimo go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
8.10. 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.
Leiria offered $1.4M; Académico de Viseu said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Pablo Fernández 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Fabinho is in the works
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Maritimo have done the hard part with Flamengo, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Maritimo offered $520.0K; Santos said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Maritimo asked and Guarani said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
$1.3M settles it between the clubs for Eboué Kouassi
Leiria have accepted the money. What Maritimo do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.4M — a club that wants Eboué Kouassi enough to be asked twice.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Flamengo is saying, and nobody at Maritimo is enjoying the guessing.
$450.0K on the table at Santos. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Adrián Butzke 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Raphael Guzzo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Maritimo asked and Torreense said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Two goals and a mark of 8.73 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The offer from Maritimo for Eboué Kouassi 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.
Leiria have gone to Académico de Viseu with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leiria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The shirt still fits. Diogo Pinto is back at Leiria, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jair Silva was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
$6.2M was the most the club would pay and Estoril Praia were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
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 7.84 for the rest of 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 Maritimo this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Maritimo training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raphael Guzzo 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.
Level with 89 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Maritimo had all but put away. Portimonense will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Juan Muñoz and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Leiria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo Fernández 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 phone has started ringing about Famana Quizera again, and this time the name on the line is Académica. Leiria are listening politely and promising nothing.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Leiria will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.