Santa Cruz

Brazilian Série D Grupo 2
27 Aug 2026
Thursday
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4 Edition

The Santa Cruz Chronicle

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Player ratings24 Aug 2026

Age has not caught Renato yet — 8.22

At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.22 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Match22 Aug 2026

Santa Cruz cannot stop winning

4 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.

Squad24 Aug 2026

A falling-out at Santa Cruz

Robinho and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Boardroom24 Aug 2026

Santa Cruz agree a free transfer for André

Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.

Match22 Aug 2026

Santa Cruz see off Sousa

Three points for Santa Cruz, 2‑0 the final word against Sousa in a contest settled by the finer margins.

The dugout24 Aug 2026

A satisfied André Neves

“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, André Neves could afford to be generous.

The dugout24 Aug 2026

No hiding place for Gabriel Galhardo

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gabriel Galhardo, and the manager let it.

Player ratings24 Aug 2026

Robinho was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 13. 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 dugout24 Aug 2026

Ariel Nahuelpán has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Santa Cruz 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

Back issues
3 Edition

The Santa Cruz Chronicle

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad17 Aug 2026

Quirino takes the match ball home

5 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.

Match15 Aug 2026

Quirino leads the rout of Jequié

7‑0, and Quirino took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Santa Cruz tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Match12 Aug 2026

Ariel Nahuelpán sends Santa Cruz through

Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Ariel Nahuelpán obliged against ASA. 4‑3 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Santa Cruz.

Match12 Aug 2026

Santa Cruz win it in stoppage time

The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 118th minute. ASA will replay every second of the added time for a week.

Player ratings17 Aug 2026

A brace, and Ariel Nahuelpán takes the afternoon — 8.67

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ariel Nahuelpán provided it, and the 8.67 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Market17 Aug 2026

Gabriel Souza turns BKMA down

“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.

Player ratings17 Aug 2026

Vintage Alex Ruan — 8.32

At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.32, and nobody on the pitch better.

Match15 Aug 2026

Santa Cruz cannot stop winning

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.

Squad17 Aug 2026

Words exchanged at Santa Cruz

Robinho 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

2 Edition

The Santa Cruz Chronicle

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad10 Aug 2026

5 goals for Quirino

The match ball belongs to Quirino, whose 5 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Match8 Aug 2026

Quirino leads the rout of Juazeirense

12‑0, and Quirino took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Santa Cruz tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Squad10 Aug 2026

Andrey takes the match ball home

3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.

Player ratings10 Aug 2026

Robinho scores twice — 8.21

Two goals and a mark of 8.21 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings10 Aug 2026

Age has not caught Alex Ruan yet — 8.29

At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.29 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Market10 Aug 2026

Santa Cruz turn down Flora for Gabriel Souza

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad10 Aug 2026

Robinho in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Santa Cruz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings10 Aug 2026

A masterclass from Quirino

Marked 10.00 — 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.

Match8 Aug 2026

Nobody could stop scoring

12 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Santa Cruz and Juazeirense in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.

In brief

1 Edition

The Santa Cruz Chronicle

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market3 Aug 2026

Andranik come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Santa Cruz did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Player ratings3 Aug 2026

Renato was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 23. 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.

Squad3 Aug 2026

Renato signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Renato commits to Santa Cruz for another 2 years.

Squad3 Aug 2026

Tempers go at Santa Cruz

Robinho 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.

Market3 Aug 2026

Still no ink between Santa Cruz and Robinho

“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Santa Cruz, another week without a signature from Robinho.

Squad3 Aug 2026

Too much change too quickly at Santa Cruz

12 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.

The dugout3 Aug 2026

The view from the dugout

“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” André Neves chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.

Market3 Aug 2026

Nobody at Santa Cruz has picked up the phone to Balotelli

24 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.

Match1 Aug 2026

No goals between Santa Cruz and Santa Cruz de Natal

Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Santa Cruz de Natal will be the happier side with the point.

In brief