Cruzeiro U18

Brazilian Série A U18
24 Oct 2026
Saturday
Process
12 Edition

The Cruzeiro Post

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Whatever happens, Cruzeiro do not lose

15 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.

Squad

Cássio wins the shoot-out

2 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.

Match

The cup run ends for Cruzeiro

3‑3 against Flamengo, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.

The dugout

Matheus Pereira says Cruzeiro went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Match

Cruzeiro throw away a 2-goal lead

2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Flamengo the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Cruzeiro will enjoy reviewing.

Match

Cruzeiro are in among the leaders

Position 3 and 25 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Match

4 matches without a win for Cruzeiro

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Cruzeiro are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Words exchanged at Cruzeiro

Matheus Pereira 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 dugout

Cássio gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

  • Player ratings One of those days for Gérson
  • Player ratings Fágner misses from twelve yards
  • Player ratings A costly moment from Lucas Villalba
Back issues
11 Edition

The Cruzeiro Post

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Still nobody has beaten Cruzeiro

The unbeaten run reaches 13. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Player ratings

Gérson runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

A falling-out at Cruzeiro

Matheus Pereira and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Appearance number 200 for William

200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Kaio Jorge

Marked 8.17 — 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.

Match

Honours even between Cruzeiro and Botafogo

1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

The dugout

Somebody else is better right now than Chico da Costa

The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Cristiano Fonseca on the draw

“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.

The dugout

When it matters, Luis Sinisterra plays

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

10 Edition

The Cruzeiro Post

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Luis Sinisterra runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 36. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

Still nobody has beaten Cruzeiro

The unbeaten run reaches 12. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Squad

Words exchanged at Cruzeiro

Fabrício Bruno 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.

Squad

Words at Cruzeiro training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matheus Pereira 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.

Player ratings

Matheus Pereira stands above it all

Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.41 on the card, and the Cruzeiro support went home talking about one name.

Squad

Gabriel Rojas named in the team of the month

A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Gabriel Rojas is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.

The dugout

Lucas Silva dropped after a run of poor form

The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Cristiano Fonseca on the draw

“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.

The dugout

A promise honoured at Cruzeiro

Something was said to Kauã Moraes and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.

In brief

9 Edition

The Cruzeiro Post

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Kaio Jorge wins it after the whistle should have gone

95 minutes played. Kaio Jorge found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Flamengo went from a point to nothing inside one movement.

Match

Cruzeiro make it 3 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Cruzeiro have 3 straight wins of it.

Squad

Tempers go at Cruzeiro

Matheus Pereira 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.

Player ratings

Matheus Pereira was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Match

Cruzeiro see off Flamengo

Three points for Cruzeiro, 3‑2 the final word against Flamengo in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Match

Cruzeiro keep winning on the road

3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Luis Sinisterra at his very best

Marked 8.25. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Cruzeiro.

Player ratings

Kaio Jorge in the eights

A performance of 8.18 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

The dugout

No hiding place for Lucas Silva

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lucas Silva, and the manager let it.

In brief

  • Squad 9 new faces, and Cruzeiro are still learning each other
  • The dugout Cristiano Fonseca: “That is the standard”
  • Squad Wesley falls out with a teammate over standards
8 Edition

The Cruzeiro Post

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Kaio Jorge leads the rout of Grêmio

3‑0, and Kaio Jorge took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Cruzeiro tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Match

Still nobody has beaten Cruzeiro

The unbeaten run reaches 10. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Squad

A falling-out at Cruzeiro

Gérson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Kaio Jorge

Marked 8.43 — 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.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Matheus Pereira

Marked 8.29 — 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.

Player ratings

Luis Sinisterra was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.27. 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.

The dugout

No hiding place for João Marcelo

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to João Marcelo, and the manager let it.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Cristiano Fonseca kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.

The dugout

Alan dropped after a run of poor form

The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.

In brief

7 Edition

The Cruzeiro Post

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Gabriel Pec

Successful dribbles: 39. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

Matheus Henrique leads the rout of Juventude

3‑0, and Matheus Henrique took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Cruzeiro tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Player ratings

A brace, and Matheus Henrique takes the afternoon — 8.26

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Matheus Henrique provided it, and the 8.26 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Match

Whatever happens, Cruzeiro do not lose

9 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.

Market

Kaio Jorge wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Cruzeiro hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Tempers go at Cruzeiro

Fabrício Bruno 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.

Squad

Matheus Pereira 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.

Player ratings

Kaio Jorge in the eights

A performance of 8.36 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

The dugout

No hiding place for Alan

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alan, and the manager let it.

In brief

6 Edition

The Cruzeiro Post

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Gabriel Pec

Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

Whatever happens, Cruzeiro do not lose

8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.

Squad

Matheus Pereira in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cruzeiro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

Cássio gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Boardroom

The Cruzeiro board find $7.2M for the manager

Money, not words, and it is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending $7.2M well is entirely his problem now.

Match

Cruzeiro share the spoils with Santos

A 2‑2 draw with Santos leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

Squad

Gérson named in the team of the month

A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Gérson is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.

Market

Talks stall between Cruzeiro and Alan

“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.

Squad

Gérson loses the armband

The captaincy has been taken off Gérson. Cruzeiro will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.

In brief

  • Squad Words at Cruzeiro training over how hard people work
  • The dugout Lucas Silva dropped after a run of poor form
  • The dugout The view from the dugout
5 Edition

The Cruzeiro Post

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Player ratings

Gabriel Pec beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 51. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

4 goals for Luis Sinisterra

The match ball belongs to Luis Sinisterra, whose 4 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Match

Cruzeiro march on in the cup

Vasco da Gama are out and Cruzeiro go through, 4‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Rhuan Gabriel at 20 — 8.10

The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Rhuan Gabriel did not need any: 8.10, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Squad

Tempers go at Cruzeiro

Matheus Pereira was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

The terraces

One of their own: Keny Arroyo

He is 20 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.

Match

Cruzeiro find a way past São Paulo

São Paulo made Cruzeiro work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Luis Sinisterra

Marked 8.37 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

The dugout

No hiding place for Chico da Costa

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Chico da Costa, and the manager let it.

In brief

4 Edition

The Cruzeiro Post

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Gabriel Pec

Successful dribbles: 36. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Cássio wins the shoot-out

2 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.

Match

Cruzeiro march on in the cup

Fluminense are out and Cruzeiro go through, 2‑2 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.

Match

Gérson leads the rout of Vitória

4‑1, and Gérson took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Cruzeiro tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Squad

A day Gérson will not forget

3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.

Player ratings

Luis Sinisterra scores twice — 8.28

Two goals and a mark of 8.28 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Wesley at 21 — 7.88

The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Wesley did not need any: 7.88, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Squad

Fabrício Bruno in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cruzeiro this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Cruzeiro

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matheus Pereira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

3 Edition

The Cruzeiro Post

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Cruzeiro through in the cup

A 2‑0 win over Mirassol, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.

Player ratings

Both of them Bruno Rodrigues's — 8.31

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.31, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings

Wesley, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.94

A mark of 7.94 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Match

Cruzeiro cannot stop winning

3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.

Player ratings

Marquinhos was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 23. 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Cruzeiro

Matheus Pereira and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Luis Sinisterra the difference as Cruzeiro beat Fortaleza

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Luis Sinisterra. 3‑1 against Fortaleza, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Wesley

At 21 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.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Kaio Jorge at his very best

Marked 8.74. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Cruzeiro.

In brief

2 Edition

The Cruzeiro Post

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Cruzeiro turn down Spartak 1918 for Ruan Índio

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Player ratings

Matheus Pereira beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Market

Fabrício Bruno wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Cruzeiro hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Matheus Pereira signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Matheus Pereira and Cruzeiro agree another 3 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Cruzeiro

Matheus Pereira 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.

Squad

Mateus Pasinato arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Mateus Pasinato has, at Cruzeiro, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Match

Cruzeiro find a way past Bahia

Bahia made Cruzeiro work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Market

Mateus Pasinato arrives at Cruzeiro as the heir apparent

Every dressing room knows how to read a signing like this one. Mateus Pasinato is not here to sit and wait indefinitely, and the man whose place he has been bought to take knows it better than anyone.

Player ratings

Luis Sinisterra takes the honours

Marked 7.94 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Cruzeiro had the best player on the pitch.

In brief

1 Edition

The Cruzeiro Post

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Gabriel Pec was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 39. 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.

Market

Gérson wants more than Cruzeiro are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

William signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” William and Cruzeiro agree another 3 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Cruzeiro

Gérson 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.

Squad

Matheus Pereira 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.

Market

Spartak 1918 watching Ruan Índio

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Cruzeiro have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Match

A bad afternoon for Cruzeiro against Bragantino

0‑1 to Bragantino, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Market

Nobody at Cruzeiro has picked up the phone to William

36 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.

Squad

7 new faces, and Cruzeiro 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.

In brief

  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • The dugout Matheus Pereira asks for a word with the manager
  • The dugout Zé Lucas gets it from the manager