It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Confiança kept coming because nothing stopped them, and ABC will be asked about the last half hour all week.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Zé Lucas did not need any: 8.35, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Matías Daniele 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Gabriel Freitas after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Brunão is on it.
Zé Lucas, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.68
A mark of 7.68 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ABC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Lucas Souza 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.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Gabriel Freitas after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Luiz Fernando 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.
In brief
The dugoutRodolfo Castro asks for a word with the manager
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ABC have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A season average of 7.12 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. ABC know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ABC is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Matías Daniele 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Souza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Position 3, 54 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marino Hinestroza. 2‑0 against Floresta, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Souza 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 hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Zé Lucas did not need any: 8.24, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
He is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Marked 8.50. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at ABC.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Bruno Leite 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.
Oziel and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
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.” Gabriel Freitas, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ABC can pretend not to have heard.
CSA made ABC work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Bruno Leite 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.
A season average of 7.08 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. ABC know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Matías Daniele 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.
Everybody at ABC saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 38 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Souza 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ABC can pretend not to have heard.
Matías Daniele 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 had been thinking. Bruno Leite 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.
At 19 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. ABC will try not to make too much of it.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Dudu Mandai
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Dudu Mandai has come out of that comparison in the side, and ABC have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word 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 ABC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Leite 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Gabriel Freitas chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Two goals and a mark of 8.28 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 38 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.48 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
At 19 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Felipe Guimarães wants continental football; whether ABC can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Bruno Leite 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.
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Tombense; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Zé Lucas did not need any: 8.37, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Leite was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ABC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 2‑1 win over Athletic Club, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at ABC, and 3 appearances in 32 say he has earned the hearing.
Marked 8.36 — 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Lucas Souza 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.
The 87th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Brunão decided nobody was going anywhere. Inter de Limeira had no time left to answer.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Itabirito keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“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 ABC, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
ABC close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 4 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
ABC asked and São Bernardo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The clubs have shaken hands with Itabirito; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ABC can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ABC they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.0M — a club that wants Ruan enough to be asked twice.
Matías Daniele 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.
At 38 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.85 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Matías Daniele 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.
ABC asked and Itabirito said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Atlético Goianiense paid $250.0K and ABC took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
“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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Lucas Souza 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.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. ABC know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Felipe Guimarães'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.
Bragantino go through and ABC go home, 1‑4 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. ABC have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The terraces5 Jul 2027
A cup hiding at Bragantino leaves ABC explaining themselves
1-4, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ABC can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ABC have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. ABC have lost him in all but the paperwork.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Wallyson provided it, and the 8.85 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ABC can pretend not to have heard.
The chase for Pablo ended with $220.0K changing hands and Vasco da Gama out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
6 goals in one match, Esquerdinha on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of ABC and Confiança.
Vasco da Gama have accepted the money. What ABC do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
5 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.
Add another name to the list: União have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Oziel. The answer from ABC has not changed — yet.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Lucas Souza 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Felipe Guimarães wants continental football; whether ABC can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
$910.0K was the most the club would pay and Paysandu 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ABC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ronaldy scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Amazonas, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Bruno Leite 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Independência waiting with a shirt. Nobody at ABC is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer went to Paysandu this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.0M — a club that wants Lucas Wasilewsky enough to be asked twice.
“I watch every ABC game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Uberlândia runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ABC have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ABC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Souza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The dugout31 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Gabriel Freitas was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the ABC dressing room was either.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
At 38 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.96 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ABC they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now ABC have 3 straight wins of it.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Ronaldy was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.28. 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.14 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad17 May 2027
Lucas Souza 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ABC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Gabriel Freitas on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ABC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Souza 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.
Nobody at ABC will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. ABC know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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 ABC, and it is not being withdrawn.
The first defeat in 12 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Tombense; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Leite was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 7.14, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ABC lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
4‑0, and Esquerdinha took the headlines on an afternoon when everything ABC tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Esquerdinha, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 9.47
A mark of 9.47 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ABC they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Dudu Mandai 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.
At 19 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Souza 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 words a physio says slowly. 27 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ABC have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Esquerdinha, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.66
A mark of 7.66 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
At 38 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.89 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
ABC moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Gabriel Freitas, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Felipe Guimarães wants continental football; whether ABC can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Lucas Souza 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lima 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.
Nobody at ABC will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. ABC know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one ABC will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mateus Bernardo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Zé Lucas 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Lucas Souza 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.
“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 dugout5 Apr 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Lucas Souza'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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one ABC will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ABC they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Souza 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 ABC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. ABC know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at ABC, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Eliton Junior signs something — a contract at ABC or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say João Diogo is on it.
Lima 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 Lucas Souza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Rodolfo Castro is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. ABC know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Esquerdinha has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Lucas Souza 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 had been thinking. Kellyton 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 dugout8 Mar 2027
Lucas Souza is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. ABC know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody at ABC will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at ABC that is a harder question to answer.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at ABC. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ABC is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ABC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lima was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ronaldy is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Cayo Tenório trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The words a physio says slowly. 16 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ABC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Souza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Eliton Junior signs something — a contract at ABC or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say João Diogo is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
Zé Lucas 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Rodolfo Castro is on it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thiaguinho 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. ABC know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at ABC. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Felipe Guimarães wants continental football; whether ABC can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lima was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Esquerdinha 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. ABC know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Cayo Tenório has written the date down.
Position 6 on 37 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
In brief
The terracesSupporters make their feelings known about Bruno Leite
The offer from Dinamo Tbilisi for Bruno Leite 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rodolfo Castro, and the manager let it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Lucas Souza 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ABC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. ABC know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ABC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Lucas Souza 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.
“I watch every ABC game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Itabaiana runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Eliton Junior signs something — a contract at ABC or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at ABC will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Lucas Souza 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lima was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and João Pedro trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. ABC know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
ABC offered $1.8M; Inter de Limeira 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.
At 38, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Souza 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The offer from Athletico Paranaense for Jhosefer 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.
$1.8M on the table at Inter de Limeira. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ABC is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $2.0M — a club that wants Robinho enough to be asked twice.
ABC asked and Athletico Paranaense said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ABC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Thiaguinho 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The offer from Gimnasia La Plata for Esquerdinha 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.
ABC asked and Inter de Limeira said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lima 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Eliton Junior signs something — a contract at ABC or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around ABC people have started saying his name in the past tense.
ABC offered $4.6M; Navbahor 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Igor Morais has, at ABC, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Souza 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.
Esquerdinha 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.
ABC have made the call to Athletico Paranaense. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The offer went to Navbahor this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Add another name to the list: Itabaiana have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Randerson. The answer from ABC has not changed — yet.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
In brief
SquadWords at ABC training over how hard people work
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Felipe Guimarães wants continental football; whether ABC can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
ABC 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.
The offer went to Fluminense this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ABC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 12 actions, 7.31, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Leite 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Igor Bahia, and the manager let it.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Gabriel Freitas chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
In brief
The dugoutCayo Tenório dropped after a run of poor form
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.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Lucas Souza 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.
Nobody at ABC will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thiaguinho 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Gabriel Freitas chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Guarani? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Lucas Souza 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Bruno Leite 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.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Guarani.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Lucas Marques is on it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Guarani in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Esquerdinha, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.77
A mark of 7.77 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Wellington Carvalho 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 Bruno Leite was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Something was said to Edson and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Jhosefer was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.36. 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Marked 8.10 — 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.
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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Wallyson in the middle of it, and Confiança unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Bruno Leite 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.
Esquerdinha 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Cayo Tenório, and the manager let it.
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.” Gabriel Freitas kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Rodolfo Castro is on it.
In brief
SquadThe division's best last weekend was a ABC man
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Eliton Junior
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Lucas Souza 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 had been thinking. Bruno Leite 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 is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ABC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
João Pedro 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Igor Bahia trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Wellington Carvalho’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and ABC needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. ABC know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Bruno Leite’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to ABC.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Bruno Leite 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.
18 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Gabriel Freitas could afford to be generous.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 22 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Lucas Souza 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Bruno Leite 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Nobody at ABC will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Wallyson provided it, and the 9.31 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ABC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Gabriel Freitas on a 4‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Thiaguinho 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Leite 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 ABC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout14 Sep 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 Gabriel Freitas to a room that had heard them before.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Retrô in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ABC will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Leite was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The young player of the month award goes to a 20-year-old at ABC who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at ABC, another week without a signature from Bruno Leite.
Nobody at ABC will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
0‑1 against Athletico Paranaense, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Lucas Souza 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.
18 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Rodolfo Castro is on it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Thiaguinho 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Gabriel Freitas after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Anápolis, and it could have been more.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A brace, and Igor Bahia takes the afternoon — 8.66
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Igor Bahia provided it, and the 8.66 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Two goals and a mark of 8.64 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Edson scored, was marked 7.69, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Lucas Souza 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.
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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Wallyson provided it, and the 9.32 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Edson provided it, and the 8.07 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ABC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 goals in one match, Ronaldy on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of ABC and Aparecidense.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.28, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A brace, and Igor Bahia takes the afternoon — 8.57
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Igor Bahia provided it, and the 8.57 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Two goals and a mark of 8.02 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.24 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Lucas Souza 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.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Leonardo Assis has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ABC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luiz Fernando was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Still no offer on the table, and Wellington Carvalho’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
17 new faces, and ABC 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at ABC, another week without a signature from Bruno Leite.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.