Georgemy and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Juazeirense, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Douglas Souza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
7 new faces, and Juazeirense 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Juazeirense know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
João Grilo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Douglas Souza falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Juazeirense will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until João Grilo signs something — a contract at Juazeirense or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
João Grilo 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.
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 Adauto Júnior has written the date down.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Léo Godo signs something — a contract at Juazeirense or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
João Grilo 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Juazeirense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Douglas Souza is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
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 Adauto Júnior has written the date down.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juazeirense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcelo Cauã was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
7 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.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Juazeirense know which stage they are at.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Juazeirense, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Juazeirense will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Arthurzinho has, at Juazeirense, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juazeirense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Juazeirense asked and Colón said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Juazeirense, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Juazeirense, another week without a signature from Arthurzinho.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until João Grilo signs something — a contract at Juazeirense or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Juazeirense will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Georgemy was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Everybody at Juazeirense saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 38 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
$52.0K was the most the club would pay and Santos were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Douglas Souza falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Juazeirense will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juazeirense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer went to Santos this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Douglas Souza falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Juazeirense asked and América Mineiro said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Juazeirense will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Felipe Garcia 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Juazeirense, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Juazeirense 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.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Juazeirense know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Juazeirense have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Juazeirense will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Juazeirense have done the hard part with Sport Recife, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Douglas Souza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Juazeirense asked and Nova Iguaçu said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Atlético Goianiense 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.
Bruno Barbosa is 35 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 53 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
João Grilo 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Operário Ferroviário have kept their man, and Juazeirense go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Juazeirense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcelo Cauã is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Juazeirense have made the call to Nova Iguaçu. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad7 Dec 2026
5 new faces, and Juazeirense 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 registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Juazeirense will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
João Grilo 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
João Vitor 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.
Half the programme played, position 6, 25 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Juazeirense will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juazeirense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Alessandro Scheppa scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Penedense, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Juazeirense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Douglas Souza is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The 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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Juazeirense, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 76 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Felipe Garcia 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Juazeirense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Douglas Souza is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Juazeirense know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
22 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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Marcelo Cauã has just signed for Juazeirense, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juazeirense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Juazeirense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Douglas Souza is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He is 20, and nobody at Juazeirense signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juazeirense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Fernando Monteiro after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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 shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Juazeirense know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Juazeirense. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Successful dribbles: 7. 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.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.14 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
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 Assis has written the date down.
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
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.
João Grilo 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
João Vitor 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
21 new faces, and Juazeirense 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.
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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Juazeirense would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
João Grilo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Everybody at Juazeirense saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 37 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Juazeirense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. João Vitor 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.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Juazeirense will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
“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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThalyson asks for a word with the manager
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
Caio Cunha 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 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.
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
The division's best last weekend was a Juazeirense man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Derlis Ortiz was the best thing in any of them.
Sergipe will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Juazeirense were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A brace, and Derlis Ortiz takes the afternoon — 9.43
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Derlis Ortiz provided it, and the 9.43 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Juazeirense and Sergipe in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Juazeirense scored in the 93th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
João Grilo 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Alex Rodrigues 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. Sérgio Martins 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.
João Grilo 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
19 new faces, and Juazeirense 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Marlon has come out of that comparison in the side, and Juazeirense have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Juazeirense will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Marcelo Duarte’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Juazeirense needing him to play as if none of it matters.
It is the least glamorous business a club does and the reason seasons do not collapse in February. João Victor is here for the weeks when three men are injured and somebody still has to play.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Juazeirense this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Juazeirense and Jequié, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Derlis Ortiz. 4‑2 against Jequié, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Derlis Ortiz was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.38. 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Juazeirense training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. João Vitor 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.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Juazeirense know which stage they are at.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Derlis Ortiz has just signed for Juazeirense, and for once the answer mattered.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Marcelo Duarte is a Juazeirense player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Léo Godo and Juazeirense agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad24 Aug 2026
João Vitor 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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Fernando Monteiro was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Juazeirense dressing room was either.
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Anderson Carvalho. 3‑1 against Santa Cruz de Natal, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Fernando Monteiro on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Éverton is 37 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 16 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Juazeirense and Santa Cruz, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Gato is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Luís Lima 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. André Mendes 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Thiago Cunha 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Adriano Pardal. 2‑1 against Ferroviário, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Fernando Monteiro could afford to be generous.
His past walked in ahead of him. Players who have been where he has been get a hearing in a dressing room before they have earned one, and he has it for as long as his form does.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Juazeirense has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.