“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monte Azul can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Monte Azul have done the hard part with Flamengo, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Monte Azul had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Palmeiras, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Wallace was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Guarani waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Monte Azul is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Monte Azul have done the hard part with Sport Recife, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Monte Azul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wallace 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.
Ruan Carlos 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
5 new faces, and Monte Azul 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 kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Monte Azul had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
The deal with Santa Cruz is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Vitória keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Maringá paid $380.0K and Monte Azul took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Monte Azul asked and Bahia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Monte Azul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andriw 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Monte Azul can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Monte Azul people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Esteban Castaño 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 Wallace was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. José Luis García is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Monte Azul have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Esteban Castaño 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 Nov 2026
Words at Monte Azul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wallace 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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Rian Felipe was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.15. 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 goal that put São José ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Monte Azul equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Half the programme played, position 6, 21 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Two goals and a mark of 9.06 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Gui Sales 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Monte Azul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Esteban Castaño 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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
A season average of 7.26 with 11 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Roberto Peixoto, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Monte Azul, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monte Azul this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Monte Azul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wallace is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Breno Sossai’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Monte Azul needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Monte Azul 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 Monte Azul, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Gui Sales’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Monte Azul, and it is not being withdrawn.
Esteban Castaño 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 Wallace was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Roberto Peixoto after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Reidiner trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Monte Azul would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
José Luis García and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Monte Azul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Esteban Castaño 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.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Monte Azul know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Two goals and a mark of 9.33 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Gui Sales 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.
Azuriz made Monte Azul work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Monte Azul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wallace 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 22 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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Gui Sales in the middle of it, and Azuriz unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Two goals and a mark of 9.05 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
Three points for Monte Azul, 3‑1 the final word against Operário-MS in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Monte Azul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wallace 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 22 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
Ruan Carlos 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 saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Monte Azul is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Roberto Peixoto could afford to be generous.
Caio Bahia 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 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Monte Azul has been clear about where Breno Sossai stands, which is more than many ever get.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Reidiner signs something — a contract at Monte Azul or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Monte Azul know which stage they are at.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Monte Azul will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
559% of the income goes out in wages at Monte Azul
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Roberto Peixoto after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Gui Sales 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Wallace 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.” Roberto Peixoto after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
At 28 he has taken a place rather than been given one, and somebody else has to find something to say about it. Monte Azul have a decision that made itself.
São Luiz will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Monte Azul were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.16, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Up for the corner, and Luís Fernando delivers — 7.95
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Luís Fernando scored, was marked 7.95, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Gui Sales 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Sep 2026
6 new faces, and Monte Azul 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Roberto Peixoto kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andriw was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Monte Azul, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Monte Azul will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Wallace was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A 2‑0 win over Marcílio Dias, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Marked 8.71 — 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Monte Azul this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Roberto Peixoto on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 26 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Wallace was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Allan Bahia’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Monte Azul needing him to play as if none of it matters.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Gui Sales signs something — a contract at Monte Azul or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Monte Azul. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Monte Azul will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Luan Silva and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“Nobody 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.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
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 Roberto Peixoto to a room that had heard them before.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Monte Azul have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gui Sales provided it, and the 9.12 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
A 3‑1 win over Barra, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Monte Azul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wallace 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.
Rian Felipe 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.
5 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 dugout24 Aug 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.” Roberto Peixoto, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Fortaleza go through and Monte Azul go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Successful dribbles: 26. 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 Monte Azul this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Monte Azul training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wallace 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.
Marked 8.00 — 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Gui Sales and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 22 he is 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Fábio Mendes has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Douglas Rocha 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Vitor Tavares 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. Lucas Santos has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Wallace was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Monte Azul, another week without a signature from Wallace.
“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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Reidiner trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.