From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 24, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Emmanuel Martínez 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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 20. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Cacá was the difference for Vitória
Marked 7.87. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
There were 10 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitória this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match31 Oct 2026
1‑2 to Corinthians, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
143% of the income goes out in wages at Vitória
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Riccieli gets it from the manager
“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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Erick runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Oct 2026
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match26 Oct 2026
Vitória refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 24 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Nothing got past Riccieli
27 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
One of those days for Cacá
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.46, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Vitória training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Martínez 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 ratings26 Oct 2026
Marked 8.98 — 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Renato Kayser, and the manager let it.
Match24 Oct 2026
Flamengo made Vitória work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
In brief
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Player ratings
One of those days for Erick
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Boardroom
The Vitória dressing room answers
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The terraces
The press cannot get enough of Emmanuel Martínez
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitória this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Lucas Lohan is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Lucas Arcanjo lets one through his hands
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Match17 Oct 2026
Grêmio left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Nobody could get near Erick
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
In brief
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Player ratings
The one thing Renato Kayser could not do
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Player ratings
The chances came and went for Marinho
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match10 Oct 2026
Still nobody has beaten Vitória
The unbeaten run reaches 9. 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 ratings12 Oct 2026
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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Emmanuel Martínez 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Edenílson is a better footballer than he was
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.
Market12 Oct 2026
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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Defensive actions: 21, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Cacá shuts the door
Defensive actions: 20, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Match10 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Renato Kayser. 1‑0 against Juventude, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.96, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match3 Oct 2026
The 89th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Matheuzinho decided nobody was going anywhere. Santos had no time left to answer.
Match3 Oct 2026
Whatever happens, Vitória do not lose
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Market5 Oct 2026
Baralhas wants European nights
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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Erick runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Marinho 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 Vitória this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Francisco is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Emmanuel Martínez 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Matheuzinho’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Vitória.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market28 Sep 2026
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Emmanuel Martínez wants continental football; whether Vitória can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Match26 Sep 2026
Still nobody has beaten Vitória
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Emmanuel Martínez 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 9.05 — 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Cacá
“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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Nobody could get near Erick
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Cacá's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Match26 Sep 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
In brief
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The terraces
Everybody has an opinion about Renato Kayser
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Player ratings
Renato Kayser leaves them behind him
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Player ratings
The chances came and went for Cacá
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitória this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A masterclass from Erick
Marked 9.59 — 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Atlético Mineiro made Vitória work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Match19 Sep 2026
6 unbeaten for Vitória
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Vitória did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Cacá was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.27. 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 8.48 — 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Emmanuel Martínez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.16. 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
5 goals and a season average of 7.24. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The division's best last weekend was a Vitória man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Erick was the best thing in any of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Nothing got past Baralhas
24 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
22 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Cacá was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.70. 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Vitória training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Martínez 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Three points for Vitória, 1‑0 the final word against Fortaleza in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Erick was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.55. 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vitória this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Renato Kayser 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
318% of the income goes out in wages at Vitória
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.93, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Renato Kayser, and the manager let it.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Nobody could get near Marinho
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Sep 2026
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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Honours even between Vitória and Bahia
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Market7 Sep 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
In brief
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Player ratings
Erick leaves them behind him
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The terraces
The press cannot get enough of Matheuzinho
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Aug 2026
Marinho was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Vitória training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Renato Kayser 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Renato Kayser. 3‑1 against Bragantino, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
One of those days for Cacá
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.97, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.89, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Erick was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.49. 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.
In brief
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Squad
No hiding place for Ronald
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Squad
The manager has not finished forgetting Matheuzinho's mistake
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Player ratings
Nobody could get near Emmanuel Martínez
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The terraces
The stand has a song for Erick
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Aug 2026
There were 11 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Vitória's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Vitória has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Marinho 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 Vitória this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Matheuzinho
“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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
One of those days for Cacá
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.52, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Emmanuel Martínez 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
5.79 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Aug 2026
The cup run ends for Vitória
0‑1 against Fortaleza, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Match15 Aug 2026
4 matches without a win for Vitória
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Vitória are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Marinho 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
One of those days for Erick
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.90, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“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.
Match15 Aug 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Fluminense leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Vitória training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Lohan 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Vitória pick somebody else ahead of Osvaldo
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.
In brief
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Player ratings
Renato Kayser leaves them behind him
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Market
The shop window has Néris in it
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The terraces
The press have found their man in Erick
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Aug 2026
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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Age has not caught Marinho yet — 8.99
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.99 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Matheuzinho and Vitória agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Marinho 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Emmanuel Martínez wants continental football; whether Vitória can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Renato Kayser
“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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Matheuzinho at his very best
Marked 8.02. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Vitória.
Match8 Aug 2026
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match1 Aug 2026
Vitória throw away a 3-goal lead
3 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Palmeiras the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Vitória will enjoy reviewing.
Market3 Aug 2026
Baralhas wants European nights
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Marinho signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marinho and Vitória agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Marinho 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 Vitória this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Aitor Cantalapiedra was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.83. 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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.76, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
One of those days for Cacá
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.55, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Emmanuel Martínez 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.