Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Two goals and a mark of 8.29 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Gabriel Mec, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 8.13
A mark of 8.13 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Tomás Pérez 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Kauê Rodrigues 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.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Feirense tried to reorganise, Porto B did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Cardoso Varela
Successful dribbles: 34. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Mateus Mide, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.00
A mark of 8.00 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Tomás Pérez 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.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.00, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
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.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Porto B know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Somebody else is better right now than João Teixeira
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.
A season average of 7.05 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Porto B know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Porto B has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Porto B training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomás Pérez 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 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Mateus Mide.
“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 Porto B, and it is not being withdrawn.
The bid was some way short and Porto B did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Tomás Pérez 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Porto B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Tomás Pérez
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.
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.
Tomás Pérez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dinis Rodrigues was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Tiago Ferreira will call it something else in private.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Porto B can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Mateus Mide, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.00
A mark of 8.00 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Tomás Pérez 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.
Gabriel Mec 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 dugout25 Jan 2027
Somebody else is better right now than João Teixeira
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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Porto B has been clear about where Diogo Fernandes stands, which is more than many ever get.
Nobody at Porto B 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.
Derby days make names, and Cardoso Varela made his against Benfica B. 4‑1, bragging rights secured, and one half of town will be tired of hearing about him by Tuesday.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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 Porto B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer from Feirense for André Miranda 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.
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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Porto B can tell you which week it ends in.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Porto B will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
The name of André Miranda has come up in conversations Porto B were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
At 22 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 Tomás Pérez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
18 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.
At 18 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.
Tiago Ferreira 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Porto B has been clear about where Víctor García stands, which is more than many ever get.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. João Teixeira did not need any: 8.40, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
A season average of 7.01 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Porto B know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Porto B and Lusitânia Lourosa, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
At 20 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Porto B training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dinis Rodrigues is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Porto B 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 Porto B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Rui Pinto after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody at Porto B 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.
In brief
The dugoutVíctor García dropped after a run of poor form
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Porto B can pretend not to have heard.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Tiago Ferreira is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Francisco Mendes 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Successful dribbles: 32. 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Porto B have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Francisco Mendes 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and João Teixeira trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
13 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.
Position 16 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.
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.
“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 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 0‑1 Rui Pinto left the room before anybody could ask which.
João Tavares 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and João Teixeira trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mateus Mide did not need any: 8.04, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
He is 18, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Kauê 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.
At 18 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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Nobody at Porto B 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.
11 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.
Tiago Ferreira 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.
Sporting CP B next, which means a week that starts on Monday. Everything else on this page will be forgotten by Saturday; this fixture will not be forgotten for a year.
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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kauê Rodrigues provided it, and the 7.95 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. João Teixeira did not need any: 7.77, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Tiago Ferreira 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.
6 goals in one match, Kauê Rodrigues on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Porto B and Feirense.
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.
9 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.
“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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
10 new faces, and Porto B 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 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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
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.
8 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Gonçalo Sousa is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Rui Pinto after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
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 João Teixeira is on it.
7 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.
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.
At 21 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.
The goal that put Torreense ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Porto B equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
“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.
The dugout12 Oct 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 Rui Pinto to a room that had heard them before.
Francisco Mendes 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.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Kauê Rodrigues
The dugoutJoão Teixeira knocks on the manager's door
SquadJulián Pérez, 19, is the weekend’s best young player
6 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Tcherno Jamanca, 17, plays like he has been here for years — 7.76
A mark of 7.76 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 17-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Kauê 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. João Teixeira 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.
10 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mateus Mide did not need any: 7.74, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Porto B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Nobody at Porto B 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
Player ratingsAndré Miranda changes it off the bench
1‑4 to Leiria, 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Tiago Ferreira 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
The fixture the calendar is arranged around. Form goes out of the window, the table is not consulted, and for ninety minutes Porto B will be judged on one thing only.
Successful dribbles: 46. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Mateus Mide, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.82
A mark of 7.82 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Tiago Ferreira 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.
Mateus Mide is the division's best young player this month
At 18 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Porto B will try very hard not to make too much of it.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dinis Rodrigues, and the manager let it.
The dugout7 Sep 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 1‑2 Rui Pinto left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Martim Cunha
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Martim Cunha has come out of that comparison in the side, and Porto B have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mateus Mide did not need any: 8.47, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 17-year-old it feels ownership of. Cardoso Varela 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.
João Afonso 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.
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“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.
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mateus Mide did not need any: 8.38, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
A 5‑3 win over Lusitânia Lourosa, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
8 goals in one match, Trofim Melnichenko on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Porto B and Lusitânia Lourosa.
At 20 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.
Successful dribbles: 27. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Anhá Candé, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.64
A mark of 7.64 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
“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.
Nobody at Porto B is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Kauê 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Víctor García 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kauê Rodrigues trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Tiago Ferreira 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.
15 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Porto B, and both men came out saying it was fine.