At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.91 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Ruan 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Itabirito. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Rodrigues was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad23 Nov 2026
10 new faces, and Itabirito 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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Júnior Amaral kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Flávio Nunes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Luiz Carlos trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Itabirito and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
In brief
Looking aheadLooking ahead: the trip to Uberlândia
Serginho 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against São José? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Itabirito know which stage they are at.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Itabirito would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
1 for Eduardo, marked 7.85, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Itabirito this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Itabirito. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Itabirito will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Rodrigues was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Itabirito lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Itabirito this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Cianorte; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Flávio Nunes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
18 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 13 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Itabirito lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
5 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.
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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Mateus Guimarães in the middle of it, and Cascavel unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
The words a physio says slowly. 29 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.
Thiago Alagoano 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Roberto Cavalcante 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. Diego Peixoto 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Rodrigues was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Cascavel in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Thiago Alagoano 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 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.
Azuriz made Itabirito work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Itabirito training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Flávio Nunes 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.
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.
Gílson Alves 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Thiago Alagoano. 2‑1 against Operário-MS, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
13 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.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.18 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Gílson Alves 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.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Fidélis’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Itabirito.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Itabirito training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Rodrigues is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout21 Sep 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.” Júnior Amaral, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Luiz Carlos trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.52 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Itabirito this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 2‑0 win over Brasil de Pelotas, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Luís Xavier 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Rodrigues was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Itabirito know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Júnior Amaral kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
He 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.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Itabirito know which stage they are at.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Pedro Rodrigues has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luis Campero will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Itabirito the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ruan 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.
Santos will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Lucas Arruda has pre-agreed a move to Itabirito, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Itabirito training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Rodrigues 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.
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
11 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Luis Campero. 1‑0 against Marcílio Dias, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Every debut is a small story about the future: Cristiano Borges, 14 years old, off the academy pitches and into the first team. The parents in the stand will keep the programme.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Monte Azul kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Itabirito will be asked about the last half hour all week.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Kauã Barbosa has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Itabirito have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Two goals and a mark of 8.05 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Ruan 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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Itabirito and Barra in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Danilo Lima is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Itabirito this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
0‑1 to Inter de Limeira, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad3 Aug 2026
7 new faces, and Itabirito 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.