The words a physio says slowly. 124 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Neto Moura signs something — a contract at Mirassol or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
6 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Mirassol could ask drops and the wages Carlos Eduardo can ask rise.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mirassol, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 The request is on a desk at Mirassol, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Victor Luís commits to Mirassol for another 2 years.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Neto Moura 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.
Guarani will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Samuel has pre-agreed a move to Mirassol, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run 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 Mirassol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Renato Marques signs something — a contract at Mirassol or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Mirassol would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Rodrigo Rodrigues 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Maximiliano Osuna has, at Mirassol, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Rodrigo Rodrigues 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gabriel Rodrigues and Mirassol agree another 4 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gustavo Cazonatti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Mirassol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mirassol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Neto Moura signs something — a contract at Mirassol or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gustavo Mendoza trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 Mirassol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Mirassol had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Racing Club, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Mirassol asked and Corinthians said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Carlos Eduardo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
29 games, 0 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Mirassol now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
Mirassol asked and Santos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gustavo Cazonatti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
9 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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Gustavo Cazonatti has his answer from Mirassol; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mirassol can pretend not to have heard.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $295.8K — a club that wants Luis Miguel enough to be asked twice.
$270.0K was the most the club would pay and Vitória 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mirassol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Guarani have kept their man, and Mirassol go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Renato Marques trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Mirassol have gone to Vitória 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.
Mirassol asked and São Paulo 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 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 Eduardo has written the date down.
São Paulo paid $13.4M and Mirassol took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Mirassol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Denilson has gone, the accounts have $13.4M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Everybody at Mirassol 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.
$58.0K 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Neto Moura was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Cruzeiro waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Mirassol is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Mirassol, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Atlético Goianiense for Denilson 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.
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 number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $85.3K — a club that wants Kauê Furquim enough to be asked twice.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mirassol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Mirassol have gone to Bahia 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.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denilson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Neto Moura was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Gabriel Rodrigues after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Alex Muralha has his answer from Mirassol; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Walter 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Mirassol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Neto Moura 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Mirassol has been clear about where Joaquín González stands, which is more than many ever get.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Mirassol know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mirassol 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 Mirassol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Mirassol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denilson 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.
1 for Reinaldo, marked 7.72, 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.
Walter and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Neto Moura 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.
50 goals for the club, every one of them filed away in the memory of a supporter somewhere.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Shaylon was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.34. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
There were 10 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Neto Moura 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.
Igor Cariús 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 Mirassol, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Gabriel Rodrigues after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Marked 5.02. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.98 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Walter was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denilson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mirassol have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Neto Moura 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.
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.
Paysandu next, and one man in the Mirassol dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
5 goals in 23 games at Jequié — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Mirassol 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 Neto Moura was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.27 — 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.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 88th, and Ceará spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denilson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Negueba and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Gabriel Rodrigues on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“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 Mirassol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Walter 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Neto Moura 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 90. Coritiba had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Gabriel Rodrigues after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Neto Moura 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 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.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Denilson was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.12. 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.
Athletico Paranaense held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Mirassol answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Thomazella 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mirassol can pretend not to have heard.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Mirassol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denilson 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mirassol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Denilson has come out of that comparison in the side, and Mirassol have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Willian Machado has moved up it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.80 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Walter 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Neto Moura 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 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Mirassol told Shaylon something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mirassol can pretend not to have heard.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Mirassol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Neto Moura 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 first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Guarani; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Luiz Filipe 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.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Renato Marques scored in the 86th minute, São Bernardo had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Mirassol took the lot.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Renato Marques provided it, and the 8.60 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
3 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mirassol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Denilson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Gabriel Rodrigues on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Denilson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.27 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.87 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
1 for Willian Machado, marked 7.96, 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Neto Moura was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Renato Marques 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Mirassol people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mirassol have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Mirassol ran out of time with Itabirito. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Walter 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Mirassol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Neto Moura 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 Mirassol game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Portuguesa runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“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.
A 3‑1 win over Atlético Mineiro, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Everything agreed with Itabirito, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Yago Noal did not need any: 8.29, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“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 Mirassol, and it is not being withdrawn.
The bid was some way short and Mirassol did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
Mirassol close the window on a squad of their own making
1 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.
$110.0K was the most the club would pay and Horizonte 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Mirassol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Denilson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
América Mineiro will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Mirassol were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Mirassol people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Two goals and a mark of 8.25 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 Mirassol, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.97 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $147.9K — a club that wants Kauê Furquim enough to be asked twice.
The offer went to Bahia 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.
$140.0K was the most the club would pay and Juventude 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.
In brief
SquadNeto Moura falls out with a teammate over standards
The mood at Mirassol 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.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $147.9K — a club that wants Raí enough to be asked twice.
Mirassol offered $770.0K; Bahia 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.
$140.0K on the table at Juventude. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“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 Mirassol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match29 Jun 2027
André Luís wins it after the whistle should have gone
111 minutes played. André Luís found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Ceará went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
1 for José Aldo, marked 7.88, 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.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Maricá moved on, Chico Kim reports back to Mirassol, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Mirassol offered $180.0K; Avaí 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.
The phone has started ringing about Carlos Eduardo again, and this time the name on the line is Iberia 1999. Mirassol are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
Mirassol asked and Toluca said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 Mirassol, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Mirassol have done the hard part with Internacional, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.
Walter 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.
Mirassol offered $350.0K; Athletico Paranaense 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Neto Moura was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Paysandu the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Mirassol will enjoy reviewing.
“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 Mirassol, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Iberia 1999 for Carlos Eduardo 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 number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $193.4K — a club that wants Nicolás Cabral enough to be asked twice.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mirassol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$420.0K was the most the club would pay and Fluminense 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Neto Moura falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. João Victor had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Mixto waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Mirassol is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.05 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Palmeiras is saying, and nobody at Mirassol is enjoying the guessing.
$350.0K on the table at Athletico Paranaense. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The offer went to Avaí 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Mirassol training over how hard people work
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mirassol can pretend not to have heard.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.13, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Mirassol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Neto Moura 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.
Mirassol asked and Juventude said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I watch every Mirassol game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Portuguesa runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 7.55, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mirassol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Minute 90, against Coritiba, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Marked 7.44 on 16 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Walter 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Neto Moura 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Renato Marques 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.
“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 Mirassol, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.92 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 Mirassol 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 Denilson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The mood at Mirassol 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.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad17 May 2027
Neto Moura 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Walter, and the manager let it.
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Gabriel Rodrigues to a room that had heard them before.
José Miguel Rivas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout17 May 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Victor Luís
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.
Chances created: 10. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
“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 Mirassol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Walter 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Mirassol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Neto Moura 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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout10 May 2027
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 Gabriel Rodrigues left the room before anybody could ask which.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is João Victor’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Mirassol needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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.
“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 Mirassol, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Mirassol heard it as anything else.
3 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.
Walter 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 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.
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mirassol lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Ponte Preta will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Mirassol were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
“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 Mirassol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Neto Moura was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Ponte Preta were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
José Aldo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.40. 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Gabriel Rodrigues could afford to be generous.
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.
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mirassol 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 Mirassol can pretend not to have heard.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Adriano Sanabria has just signed for Mirassol, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Mirassol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Neto Moura 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Mirassol can tell you which week it ends in.
39 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mirassol lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Walter 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Mirassol know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mirassol, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Mirassol interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Gabriel Rodrigues keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
Walter 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Neto Moura falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mirassol, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mirassol can pretend not to have heard.
Everybody at Mirassol 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Mirassol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Neto Moura 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mirassol, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Mirassol 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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Mirassol will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The mood at Mirassol 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.
“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 Mirassol, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mirassol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mirassol, and both men came out saying it was fine.
14 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Neto Moura 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Mirassol know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The terraces15 Mar 2027
Supporters make their feelings known about Negueba
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Mirassol would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Edson Carioca trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Gabriel Rodrigues recited it perfectly.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Walter and Mirassol agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Neto Moura 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 bill for the sacking has arrived. João Moura leaves with $148.5K for the time left on his deal, and that money buys the club nothing it can put on the pitch.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
Walter is playing like a man with something to prove
The oldest phenomenon in the sport: a new voice in the dressing room and suddenly everybody is available for everything. Walter is training as though the last team sheet never existed, because as far as he is concerned it does not.
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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mirassol can pretend not to have heard.
Alesson 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Mirassol are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Mirassol now know that too.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Mirassol know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Renato Marques has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutCarlos Eduardo asks for a word with the manager
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mirassol 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 Neto Moura was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Denilson is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Carlos Eduardo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Walter 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Mirassol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Neto Moura 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Mirassol 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 Oliveirense for Negueba 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Mirassol will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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 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.
The phone has started ringing about Negueba again, and this time the name on the line is Oliveirense. Mirassol are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Neto Moura 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 did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Mirassol will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Nobody at Mirassol 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Willian Machado trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until José Aldo signs something — a contract at Mirassol or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
The offer from Dila for Adriano Firmino 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Neto Moura 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 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.
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. Mirassol would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mirassol have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mirassol, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutVictor Luís has become a man the manager trusts
“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.
$100.0K was the most the club would pay and Fortaleza 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Mirassol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Neto Moura 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. Juan Aurich have kept their man, and Mirassol go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Renato Machado 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. Pedro 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Lucas Fernandes 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mirassol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Walter's mistake
The arithmetic ran out, and everybody could see it coming from a distance. The hard summer starts now, and next season's fixtures will be full of unfamiliar names.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Paysandu waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Mirassol is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
“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 Mirassol hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $113.8K — a club that wants Tobias Figueiredo enough to be asked twice.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Mirassol have done the hard part with River Plate, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Igor Formiga has gone, the accounts have $4.1M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
The offer from Retrô for Daniel Borges 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mirassol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Mirassol offered $88.0K; Cruzeiro 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. São Bernardo have kept their man, and Mirassol go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
SquadWords at Mirassol training over how hard people work
The dugoutDenilson has become a man the manager trusts
Mirassol asked and Botafogo-SP said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Mirassol offered $95.0K; Grêmio 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Neto Moura was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Mirassol 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mirassol, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Mirassol know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Position 19 and 11 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.
The offer from Athletico Paranaense for Lucas Oliveira 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 number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $113.8K — a club that wants Luis Eduardo enough to be asked twice.
The offer went to Cruzeiro 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.
Vila Nova wanted more than $130.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Neto Moura 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.
Operário Ferroviário 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.
The phone has started ringing about Lucas Oliveira again, and this time the name on the line is Athletico Paranaense. Mirassol are listening politely and promising nothing.
Mirassol asked and Inter de Limeira said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
$80.0K on the table at Grêmio. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” João Victor has his answer from Mirassol; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
11 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Mirassol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alesson 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.
In brief
The dugoutWalter is still paying for one afternoon at Mirassol
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
0‑3 against Corinthians, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Neto Moura was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Mirassol 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 used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Botafogo in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Walter 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Neto Moura 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.
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.
The dugout23 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 1‑3 João Moura 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Mirassol know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alesson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
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.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Flamengo.
Flamengo next, and one man in the Mirassol dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Walter and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Neto Moura 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
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.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Neto Moura was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The goal that put Santos ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Mirassol equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
In brief
SquadA place in the month's best eleven for Shaylon
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.15 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
São Paulo made Mirassol work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Mirassol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alesson 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 dugout26 Oct 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.” João Moura, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Mirassol told Igor Cariús something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Mirassol has been clear about where Gustavo Cazonatti stands, which is more than many ever get.
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 Gabriel Pires is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Willian Machado trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Position 20 and 4 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Mirassol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Neto Moura 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“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.
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.
Nobody at Mirassol 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 happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Mirassol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Neto Moura 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.
“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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
15 new faces, and Mirassol 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.
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 Igor Cariús is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Mirassol know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Negueba’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Mirassol needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Daniel Borges trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mirassol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Fortaleza were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Marked 8.16 — 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.
Marked 8.13 — 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 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.
Walter 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Mirassol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Neto Moura 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.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Mirassol have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
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.
1‑4 against Bragantino, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
1 for Neto Moura, marked 7.51, 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Neto Moura 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 Neto Moura trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Denilson and Mirassol agree another 5 years.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Mirassol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alesson 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.
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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
15 new faces, and Mirassol 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.
Neto Moura 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.
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.
Nobody at Mirassol 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 is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Mirassol are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
1‑5 against Fluminense, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A brace, and Gabriel Pires takes the afternoon — 8.39
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gabriel Pires provided it, and the 8.39 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.01 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
1 for Neto Moura, marked 7.12, 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.
The offer from Belenenses for Fernandinho 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Mirassol and Fluminense, 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. Adriano Firmino has just signed for Mirassol, and for once the answer mattered.
In brief
SquadWords at Mirassol training over how hard people work
1‑4 to Palmeiras, 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.
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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 19 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.49 on the card, and the Mirassol support went home talking about one name.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” João Moura was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Mirassol dressing room was either.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.35 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
7.90, 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.
7 goals in one match, André Luís on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Mirassol and Maranhão.
Marked 9.74 — 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.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Ceará the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Mirassol will enjoy reviewing.
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 7.89 for the rest of it.
Walter 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Mirassol and Vasco da Gama, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Perninha 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.
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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Up for the corner, and Victor Luís delivers — 7.58
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Victor Luís scored, was marked 7.58, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mirassol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Mirassol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alesson 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.
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Carlos Eduardo
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Reinaldo
The dugoutJoão Victor asks for a word with the manager