Eduardo Felicíssimo 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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Sporting CP B training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibrahima Ba 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 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 offer from Portimonense for Eduardo Felicíssimo 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Sporting CP B heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Ibrahima Ba 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Martim Peixoto is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Eduardo Henrique 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ibrahima Ba, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words at Sporting CP B training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Moreira 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 the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Mateo Tanlongo wants continental football; whether Sporting CP B can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Eduardo Felicíssimo is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sporting CP B have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The offer from Portimonense for Eduardo Felicíssimo 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Víctor Guzmán is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad7 Aug 2028
David Moreira 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Rafael Camacho is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Eduardo Felicíssimo 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.
At 33 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
The name of José Mendes has come up in conversations Sporting CP B were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
In brief
SquadWords at Sporting CP B training over how hard people work
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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and José Lino reports back to Sporting CP B with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer from Leixões for Manuel Simões 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 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.
Eduardo Felicíssimo 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.
In brief
SquadSamuel Justo has improved at 24, which nobody expected
SquadWords at Sporting CP B training over how hard people work
The offer from Nacional for Souleymane Faye 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Pedro Lima has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad10 Jul 2028
David Moreira 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.
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.
Eduardo Felicíssimo 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.
“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 Sporting CP B, 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 Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jun 2028
David Moreira 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 general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Flávio Gonçalves 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Sporting CP B training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Moreira 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 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Eduardo Felicíssimo and Sporting CP B agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Souleymane Faye has come up in conversations Sporting CP B were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Ibrahima Ba 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Sporting CP B has been clear about where Souleymane Faye stands, which is more than many ever get.
In brief
Squad6 new faces, and Sporting CP B are still learning each other
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sporting CP B they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” José Mendes and Sporting CP B agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Sporting CP B training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Moreira 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Eduardo Henrique will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sporting CP B the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Salvador Blopá 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.
Squad29 May 2028
David Moreira 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 never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Pedro Lima commits to Sporting CP B for another 4 years.
Market29 May 2028
José Mendes returns from a loan that gave him nothing
3 appearances and 0 goals is not a season, it is a year somebody has lost. Whether that is his fault, the borrowing club's or the people who arranged it is the argument the next few weeks will have.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Sporting CP B training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Ramos 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.
Salvador Blopá 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sporting CP B have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rodrigo Correia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sporting CP B the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Sporting CP B training over how hard people work
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sporting CP B they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Salvador Blopá 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.
“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.
Squad1 May 2028
Bruno Ramos 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 respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Sporting CP B training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Moreira 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daniel Ciesielski and Sporting CP B agree another 4 years.
Salvador Blopá 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
David Moreira 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rodrigo Correia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sporting CP B the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sporting CP B have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sporting CP B they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Paulo Iago did not need any: 7.81, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Salvador Blopá 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.
21 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Paulo Iago 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
David Moreira 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 Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Sporting CP B training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Moreira 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.
Salvador Blopá 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Paulo Iago, and the manager let it.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Bruno Ramos 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 easiest signature of my career.” Martim Peixoto and Sporting CP B agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Salvador Blopá signs something — a contract at Sporting CP B or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sporting CP B they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Sporting CP B training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Moreira 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.
Salvador Blopá 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP 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 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.
“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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Sporting CP B training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Ramos 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 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.
Salvador Blopá 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
David Moreira 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Rodrigo Correia will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sporting CP B the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Sporting CP B training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Moreira 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.
Salvador Blopá 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Sporting CP B training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Moreira 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 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.
Salvador Blopá 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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
David Moreira 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.
“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 Sporting CP B, 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 Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Diego Callai has come up in conversations Sporting CP B were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Sporting CP B training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Ramos 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 offer from Moreirense for Biel 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.
Salvador Blopá 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.
Add another name to the list: Alverca have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Biel. The answer from Sporting CP B has not changed — yet.
Salvador Blopá 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.
“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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
David Moreira 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Salvador Blopá has come out of that comparison in the side, and Sporting CP B have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Salvador Blopá 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.
In brief
SquadDavid Moreira falls out with a teammate over standards
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP 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 20 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.
Salvador Blopá 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.
In brief
SquadBruno Ramos falls out with a teammate over standards
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at Sporting CP B training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Moreira 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.
Salvador Blopá 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There are goals, and then there are goals against that particular opponent. The Sporting CP B support have their bragging rights for a year and they know exactly whose name is on them.
Salvador Blopá 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 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Rodrigo 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
David Moreira 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 respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a 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 Sporting CP 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 Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP 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 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.
In brief
SquadBruno Ramos falls out with a teammate over standards
The terracesEverybody has an opinion about Salvador Blopá
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Mateo Tanlongo wants continental football; whether Sporting CP B can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Mateo Tanlongo 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Sporting CP B training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Moreira 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 Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
David Moreira 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.
In brief
SquadDiego Callai dropped after a run of poor form
Mateo Tanlongo 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mateo Tanlongo, and the manager let it.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Sporting CP B training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Ramos 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Diego Callai and Sporting CP B agree another 5 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Diego Callai 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Délcio Aurélio is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Koba Koindredi 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Sporting CP B training over how hard people work
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Bruno Ramos 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mauro Couto signs something — a contract at Sporting CP B or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Chaves moved on, Giorgi Kochorashvili reports back to Sporting CP B, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Koba Koindredi 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.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Víctor Guzmán 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.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP 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 22 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 name of Mauro Couto has come up in conversations Sporting CP B were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Koba Koindredi 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 offer from Feirense for Diego Callai 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sporting CP B have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Salvador Blopá is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Mateo Tanlongo 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 offer from Philadelphia Union for Salvador Blopá 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 20 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer from Penafiel for Flávio Gonçalves 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 20 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.
Koba Koindredi 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Sporting CP B training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Moreira 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.
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sporting CP B lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Add another name to the list: Philadelphia Union have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Salvador Blopá. The answer from Sporting CP B has not changed — yet.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sporting CP B lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sporting CP B have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 38 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.
The offer from Leixões for Ibrahima Ba 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Chris Grombahi is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The words a physio says slowly. 47 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Manuel Mendonça is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The phone has started ringing about Ibrahima Ba again, and this time the name on the line is Leixões. Sporting CP B are listening politely and promising nothing.
Koba Koindredi 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 offer from Leixões for João Muniz 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.
Add another name to the list: Feirense have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Silas Andersen. The answer from Sporting CP B has not changed — yet.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sporting CP B can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sporting CP B have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Silas Andersen 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.
In brief
SquadKoba Koindredi has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Add another name to the list: Union Berlin have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Diego Callai. The answer from Sporting CP B has not changed — yet.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
“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 Sporting CP B, 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 Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Portimonense will make the call about Issa Doumbia this week. Sporting CP B have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
In brief
SquadWords at Sporting CP B training over how hard people work
“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 Sporting CP B, and it is not being withdrawn.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Rafael Camacho is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Manuel Mendonça is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sporting CP B they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The loan was meant to give him football. 1 games and 0 goals later he is back at Sporting CP B no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sporting CP B have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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. Sporting CP B will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Eduardo Felicíssimo is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sporting CP B have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Flávio Gonçalves 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Sporting CP B training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Moreira 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.
Position 1, 65 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking 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 Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 May 2027
David Moreira 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.
Flávio Gonçalves 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.
“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 Sporting CP B will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 2027
David Moreira 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 Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Apr 2027
David Moreira 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 Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Flávio Gonçalves did not need any: 8.08, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Flávio Gonçalves 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.
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 performance of 8.49 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Sporting CP B training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Moreira 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.
Paulo Iago, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.11
A mark of 8.11 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP 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 20 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 19 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.
Position 2, 60 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Chris Grombahi did not need any: 7.91, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
Flávio Gonçalves 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 Mar 2027
Words at Sporting CP B training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Moreira 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 found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Sporting CP B pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
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.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Flávio Gonçalves did not need any: 8.28, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Eduardo Felicíssimo is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Rodrigo Correia 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Flávio Gonçalves. 1‑0 against Farense, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad8 Mar 2027
David Moreira 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.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
Nobody left the Sporting CP B dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
13 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Flávio Gonçalves did not need any: 7.69, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
5 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.
Flávio Gonçalves 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.
“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 Sporting CP B will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Nobody at Sporting CP 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.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Flávio Gonçalves did not need any: 8.22, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
Salvador Blopá 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.
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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
David Moreira 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 found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Sporting CP B pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Position 1, 55 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Feirense the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Sporting CP B will enjoy reviewing.
The unbeaten run reaches 10. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Flávio Gonçalves, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.80
A mark of 7.80 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Flávio Gonçalves 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 medical room confirms 29 days on the sidelines for Paulo Cardoso, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Sporting CP B training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Moreira 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.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
João Muniz was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. 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.
“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 Sporting CP B, 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 Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; João Muniz will call it something else in private.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Torreense will make the call about Rodrigo Correia this week. Sporting CP B have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Vizela defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Flávio Gonçalves 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.
Add another name to the list: Torreense have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about José Mendes. The answer from Sporting CP B has not changed — yet.
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.
“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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Sporting CP B training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Ramos 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.
26 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Salvador Blopá 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Chris Grombahi is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
At 19 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 1‑0 win over Torreense, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad25 Jan 2027
David Moreira 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 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.
Position 1, 49 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sporting CP B have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: AVS have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Manuel Lamúria. The answer from Sporting CP B has not changed — yet.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Manuel Mendonça was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.20. 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.
Chaves will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Sporting CP B were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Flávio Gonçalves provided it, and the 8.86 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Paulo Iago, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.85
A mark of 7.85 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sporting CP B have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 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.
Salvador Blopá 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.
21 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Manuel Mendonça 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.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 88th, and Benfica B spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Sporting CP B have had the benefit of it.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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 phone has started ringing about Manuel Simões again, and this time the name on the line is Portimonense. Sporting CP B are listening politely and promising nothing.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
41 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
João Muniz, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.68
A mark of 7.68 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sporting CP B have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 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.
Issa Doumbia 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.
A season average of 7.00 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Sporting CP B know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
João Muniz, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.79
A mark of 7.79 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Dec 2026
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Sporting CP B. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
A conversation is coming this week. Sporting CP B will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Issa Doumbia was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.96. 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 is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Issa Doumbia 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 offer from Cruzeiro for Flávio Gonçalves 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.
Issa Doumbia 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.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.88 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Sporting CP B have 6 straight wins of it.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Mauro Couto, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.85
A mark of 7.85 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
19 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
In brief
SquadDavid Moreira falls out with a teammate over standards
SquadGetting past Diego Callai has become the hardest job in the division
32 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Bruno Ramos, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.63
A mark of 8.63 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
5 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.
Issa Doumbia 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 finished 1‑0, and it was Bruno Ramos’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Sporting CP B.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Sporting CP B training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Ramos 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 are goals, and then there are goals against that particular opponent. The Sporting CP B support have their bragging rights for a year and they know exactly whose name is on them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 17-year-old it feels ownership of. José Lino 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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Porto B spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Sporting CP B training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mauro Couto 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.63 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mauro Couto did not need any: 7.97, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
Issa Doumbia 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.
At 23 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Sporting CP B training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Moreira 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.69 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Mauro Couto, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.17
A mark of 8.17 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sporting CP 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 Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Bruno Ramos. 2‑1 against Maritimo, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Bruno Ramos 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.
“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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Bruno Ramos 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.
In brief
BoardroomNobody left the Sporting CP B dressing room in a hurry
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.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Manuel Mendonça did not need any: 8.47, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sporting CP B have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Issa Doumbia 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 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Manuel Mendonça 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sporting CP B have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting CP B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Pedro Lima 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. Sporting CP B know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.