The mood at Criciúma has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
0‑3 to Atlético Mineiro, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Yuri Tanque 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Criciúma training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Natanael 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.
34 games, 9 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Criciúma now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Romarinho.
Two goals and a mark of 8.62 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
26 appearances away from home and 16 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Criciúma training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Natanael 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 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.
In brief
Player ratingsA defender's afternoon for César Martins
The dugoutRomarinho asks for a word with the manager
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Criciúma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Criciúma know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
9 goals in 31 games at Athletic Club — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Criciúma updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rómulo Otero was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutBruno Alves asks for a word with the manager
Braian Cufré 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Criciúma training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Natanael 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 Criciúma 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. Criciúma know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Juventude in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Criciúma can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Criciúma can pretend not to have heard.
7.96, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Yuri Tanque 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.
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.
Leonel Pérez 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 watch every Criciúma game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Hapoel Beer Sheva runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 Aírton is on it.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Criciúma training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rómulo Otero 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 finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout27 Sep 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.” José Gomes chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Position 18 and 20 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Criciúma 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 Criciúma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Natanael was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Romarinho.
“I watch every Criciúma game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Barcelona de Ilhéus runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Marcinho 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Criciúma training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Natanael 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Gabriel Bontempo has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gabriel Bontempo. 2‑0 against Chapecoense, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Yuri Tanque 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 watch every Criciúma game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Maricá runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Criciúma is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Criciúma know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Criciúma will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Natanael was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“I did not go to Hapoel Beer Sheva to sit and watch. I want to come back to Criciúma and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 29 matches say the rest.
0‑4 to Corinthians, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Criciúma will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
4 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.
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 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. 13 actions, 7.00, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Marcinho 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.
12 goals in 18 games at Juazeirense — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Criciúma updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Criciúma told Natanael something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Criciúma will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Natanael was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Criciúma will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Yuri Tanque and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Criciúma training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Natanael 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 Criciúma game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Hapoel Beer Sheva runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Position 19 and 12 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 56 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
Criciúma 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.
Half the programme played, position 19, 12 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
“I watch every Criciúma game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Barcelona de Ilhéus runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Criciúma will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
9 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Avaí were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
7.64, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Yuri Tanque 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.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.70 beside his name.
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: Leonel Pérez. 2‑1 against Avaí, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Criciúma will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. João Vítor has agreed terms with Figueirense for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Yuri Tanque 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 interest is real enough to have reached print. Criciúma have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Criciúma training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Natanael 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cruzeiro have kept their man, and Criciúma go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Criciúma will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer from Santa Cruz de Natal for Fellipe Mateus 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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Lira 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.
“I watch every Criciúma game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Hapoel Beer Sheva runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 88 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
6 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.
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.
The phone has started ringing about Fellipe Mateus again, and this time the name on the line is Santa Cruz de Natal. Criciúma are listening politely and promising nothing.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
At 37, 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Criciúma will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Novorizontino pay $130.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Criciúma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everybody at Criciúma saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
The 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Criciúma will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Criciúma, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atlético Mineiro have kept their man, and Criciúma go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Yuri Tanque 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 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Natanael was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
“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 Criciúma, and it is not being withdrawn.
Criciúma have gone to Ferroviária with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
“I watch every Criciúma game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Hapoel Beer Sheva runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” José Gomes after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Atlético Mineiro have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Leonel Pérez is in the works
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Criciúma can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Criciúma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Gabriel Bontempo has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
8.09. 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.
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Criciúma lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Thaciano will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Criciúma escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Thaciano provided it, and the 8.62 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Jean Irmer scored, was marked 7.57, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Yuri Tanque 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.
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Criciúma lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
6 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Criciúma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Criciúma, and 3 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout17 May 2027
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by José Gomes 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.
39 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Criciúma lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.07 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Criciúma has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Criciúma training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Romarinho 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 Criciúma game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Hapoel Beer Sheva runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“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 Criciúma, and it is not being withdrawn.
4 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Romarinho 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 Criciúma game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Iguatu runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“I watch every Criciúma game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Barcelona de Ilhéus runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Criciúma have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
7.46, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
2 academy players handed senior numbers at Criciúma
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Pedro Souza is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Danilo Batista 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.
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
“I watch every Criciúma game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Maricá runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Criciúma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Criciúma 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Marcinho wants continental football; whether Criciúma can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“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 Criciúma, and 0 appearances in 16 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
Nobody at Criciúma 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Criciúma is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Criciúma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Criciúma game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Barcelona de Ilhéus runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at Criciúma 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.
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.
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.
“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 Criciúma, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
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.
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.
Nobody at Criciúma 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 Criciúma that is a harder question to answer.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Eduardo wants continental football; whether Criciúma can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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 year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Criciúma would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Criciúma, 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 Criciúma. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
A programme of his own, away from the group, aimed at one thing the staff think is holding him back. Most improvement happens like this and none of it makes the paper.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Aírton wants continental football; whether Criciúma can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Yuri Tanque 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.
“I watch every Criciúma game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Maricá runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody at Criciúma 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Criciúma. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Criciúma, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 17 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 Criciúma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Criciúma game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Barcelona de Ilhéus runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Criciúma lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Lira 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.
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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Criciúma training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rafael Juwer 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.
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Criciúma lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Criciúma can pretend not to have heard.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Criciúma can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Criciúma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Criciúma game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Iguatu runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
A conversation is coming this week. Criciúma will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Criciúma training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kauã 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.
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 César Martins is on it.
Add another name to the list: Hapoel Beer Sheva have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Kauã. The answer from Criciúma has not changed — yet.
“I watch every Criciúma game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Maricá runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 Alisson has written the date down.
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Criciúma and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
“I did not go to Barcelona de Ilhéus to sit and watch. I want to come back to Criciúma and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Nobody at Criciúma 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Kauã 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 Criciúma, and both men came out saying it was fine.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Fera 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Marcelo Neves 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Thiago Araujo 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Guilherme Mendes 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.
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.
Nobody at Criciúma 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.
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.
Mathematically certain, and nobody in this town is going to bed early. Whatever else happened this season, it finishes a division above where it started.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Yuri Tanque 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.
“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 Criciúma, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Floresta for Nicolas 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.
Criciúma offered $2.0M; São Bernardo 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.
Yuri Tanque 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.
Novorizontino paid $810.0K and Criciúma took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Criciúma asked and Vasco da Gama said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Criciúma is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Tombense waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Criciúma is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The phone has started ringing about Jhonata Robert again, and this time the name on the line is Chapecoense. Criciúma are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
At 21 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Novorizontino will make the call about Diego Gonçalves this week. Criciúma have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Grêmio have kept their man, and Criciúma go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Criciúma are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Uberlândia waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Criciúma is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Criciúma have done the hard part with Corinthians, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Criciúma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Cauê again, and this time the name on the line is Juazeirense. Criciúma are listening politely and promising nothing.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Criciúma will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
5 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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutAírton has become a man the manager trusts
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Portuguesa have kept their man, and Criciúma go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Marked 8.20 — 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.
Add another name to the list: Barcelona de Ilhéus have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Pedro. The answer from Criciúma has not changed — yet.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Criciúma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Criciúma have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
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.
Lira and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout30 Nov 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 José Gomes left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Rafael Juwer 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Criciúma have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Yuri Tanque. 2‑1 against Goiás, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Yuri Tanque was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.31. 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.
Cauê and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout23 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.” José Gomes, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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 Marcinho is on it.
Successful dribbles: 12. 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 Waguininho and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kauã was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Criciúma 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yuri Tanque signs something — a contract at Criciúma or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Goiás in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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 Nicolas has written the date down.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Criciúma is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Yuri Tanque 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 Criciúma 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.
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bruno Alves trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
SquadKauã falls out with a teammate over standards
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ronald. 1‑0 against Athletico Paranaense, 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.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
0‑3 to Avaí, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Eduardo wants continental football; whether Criciúma can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
In brief
The dugoutMarcinho has become a man the manager trusts
“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 Criciúma, and it is not being withdrawn.
7.93, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Aírton wants continental football; whether Criciúma can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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.
At 37, 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.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Criciúma will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Criciúma 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 Criciúma 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.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
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 Diego Gonçalves has written the date down.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jean Irmer trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
Marked 9.56 — 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.
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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Volta Redonda spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Andrey David has agreed terms with Retrô for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Criciúma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 21 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Criciúma can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” José Gomes on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 11 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Criciúma told Fellipe Mateus something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Nobody at Criciúma 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.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.86 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Up for the corner, and Braian Cufré delivers — 7.88
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Braian Cufré scored, was marked 7.88, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Criciúma they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
Braian Cufré and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Rómulo Otero is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
12 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.
Atlético Goianiense arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
Nobody at Criciúma 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. Criciúma know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 offer from Belenenses for Rómulo Otero 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 listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Kauã had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
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.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.93 for the rest of it.
7.95, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A brace, and Yuri Tanque takes the afternoon — 8.58
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Yuri Tanque provided it, and the 8.58 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.08 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The offer from Persib for Kauã 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.
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.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
The first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Ferroviária; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Two goals and a mark of 8.11 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Criciúma is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Yuri Tanque 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Criciúma and Águia de Marabá, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Braian Cufré has just signed for Criciúma, and for once the answer mattered.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Criciúma this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.73, and 2 involvements.
At 23 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.
A 2‑0 win over Novorizontino, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Douglas Rangel is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. João Borges 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.
Yuri Tanque 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Rómulo Otero 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 not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Criciúma can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.