Pedro Martins 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 Vinicius Wilker 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 Sammuel signs something — a contract at ASA or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at ASA. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Willy Pretel
Willy Pretel 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 36, 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Diogo Correia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
6 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.
Position 4 on 30 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.
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.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 17 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Willy Pretel 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. Pedro Martins 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 watch every ASA game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Tocantinópolis runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ASA 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 Vinicius Wilker was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at ASA, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at ASA. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ASA lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diogo Correia was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at ASA, another week without a signature from Gerônimo.
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
“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 ASA, and it is not being withdrawn.
Willy Pretel 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.
11 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at ASA, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation ASA are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Position 4 on 30 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 36 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.
Willy Pretel 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 footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Matías López has, at ASA, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vinicius Wilker was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at ASA. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The words a physio says slowly. 43 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.
Pedro Martins 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.
52 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ASA lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Martins 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Paulo Gianezini signs something — a contract at ASA or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Ravel has written the date down.
59 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ASA lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 ASA, and it is not being withdrawn.
Willy Pretel 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 never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Rúben Gonçalves commits to ASA for another 3 years.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Diogo Correia 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at ASA, and both men came out saying it was fine.
30 points from position 4. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
66 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ASA lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Willy Pretel 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.
“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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
8 new faces, and ASA 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.
“I watch every ASA game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Tocantinópolis runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matheus Dias trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 74 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 ASA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
81 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ASA lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 19 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.
Keliton 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.
Everybody at ASA saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 34 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.
ASA asked and Joinville said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
88 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ASA lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Everything agreed with São Paulo, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Willy Pretel 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 chase for Yago Santos ended with $81.0K changing hands and América Mineiro out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
ASA 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.
“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 ASA will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. ASA will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
95 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ASA lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
ASA and América Mineiro have settled on $81.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
$15.0K was the most the club would pay and Nova Iguaçu 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.
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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
8 new faces, and ASA 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Diogo Correia is living that version at ASA, and it tends to show in the first month.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. ASA will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The chase for Heitor ended with $130.0K changing hands and América Mineiro out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ASA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
ASA offered $20.0K; Portuguesa 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.
Heitor was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $130.0K. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Monte Azul have kept their man, and ASA go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 Gustavo Sciencia enough to be asked twice.
The offer went to Portuguesa 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 offer went to Nova Iguaçu 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.
ASA asked and Operário Ferroviário said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gustavo Henrique trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ASA will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Willy Pretel 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Pablo Rossi 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 month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Keliton is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Position 4, 30 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.80 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Willy Pretel 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 Pablo Rossi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Keliton. 2‑1 against Barcelona de Ilhéus, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Keliton was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.21. 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.
Half the programme played, position 4, 30 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ASA will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.83 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Minute 89, against América de Natal, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
It needed Pablo Rossi to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against América de Natal, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Felipe Tavares after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Keliton 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. Pablo Rossi 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.
América de Natal next, and one man in the ASA dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ASA will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. ASA scored in the 93th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Marked 7.90. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ASA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Pablo Rossi 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.
Marked 8.05 — 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gerônimo, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Nov 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.” Felipe Tavares, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ASA will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 ASA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Sammuel was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.34. 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.
Marked 8.01 — 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.
22 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.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Tiba has just signed for ASA, and for once the answer mattered.
Rayan 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
Pablo Rossi 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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Felipe Tavares left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ASA will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
At 19 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.
Keliton 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
Pablo Rossi 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.” Felipe Tavares after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Gustavo Henrique’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and ASA needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ASA will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ASA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 34, 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.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and ASA know which stage they are at.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ASA will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Keliton and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Pablo Rossi 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Adenilson. 1‑0 against Juazeirense, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 90 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Santa Cruz de Natal will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. ASA were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A brace, and Kauã Freire takes the afternoon — 9.11
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kauã Freire provided it, and the 9.11 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for ASA is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
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 8.23 — 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.
In brief
The dugoutPaulo Gianezini is still being punished for one mistake
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ASA will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The goal that put Santa Cruz ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when ASA equalised, 3 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Squad21 Sep 2026
19 new faces, and ASA 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.
Rayan 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ASA will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.25 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo Rossi 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.
Gerônimo 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.
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. ASA will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑2, Felipe Tavares could afford to be generous.
In brief
Looking aheadASA take on the side everybody is chasing
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ASA will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Rayan is a ASA player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Ravel 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Sammuel has come out of that comparison in the side, and ASA have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 119 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Paulo Gianezini knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout31 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 0‑5 defeat, delivered by Felipe Tavares to a room that had heard them before.
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.
Keliton 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Keliton. 1‑0 against Penedense, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation ASA are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at ASA, another week without a signature from Gustavo Henrique.
17 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Felipe Tavares on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at ASA, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Two goals and a mark of 8.32 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ASA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between ASA and União, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 15 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Brendon has just signed for ASA, and for once the answer mattered.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between ASA and Horizonte, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Paulo Bezerra 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Pedro Rangel is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Felipe Tavares on a 4‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. ASA have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
It is a strip of cloth and it decides nothing on a Saturday. It still tells the dressing room exactly whose opinion the manager values, which is the whole point of it.