Brazil and Argentina, ‘forever rivals, always pitted against one another’

John McAuley reports from Brazil, where he finds the flame between South American rivals Brazil and Argentina burns as hot as ever in the local population.

A man walks past caricatures of Argentina's Lionel Messi and Brazil's Neymar in Porto Seguro on June 30, 2014. Arnd Wiegmann / Reuters

Even in the small fishing village of Concessao de Jacare, where things are done at an often-leisurely pace and with a easy smile, the sentiment is clear.

As a local shop owner dawdles in finding the cable connection so the television presents the match between Argentina and Switzerland – a last-16 encounter at the World Cup – a tour operator strolls by, enquiring what time it begins.

“It already has,” he said. “Who do you want to win?”

“Ah,” he said with a raise of the shoulders. “Switzerland, of course. Argentina? Never.”

Argentina won the game in extra time, and the same tour operator contemplated what would happen if they eventually take the title, too.

A third World Cup crown lifts Argentina, that old Brazilian foe, to within two of the Selecao’s record. But to do it on enemy territory?

“It wouldn’t be a disaster,” he said, somewhat surprisingly. “Argentina can have this one. We’ll just win it again next time.”

And so it goes, the constant one-upsmanship, the perpetual pursuit of bragging rights, the endless need to put the other in its place, the unabated baiting.

Brazil and Argentina, South America’s most successful countries in the world’s most-popular sport, forever rivals, always pitted against one another. If Spanish and Portuguese included a direct translation for schadenfreude, it would no doubt be emphasised here, mentioned in conversation from Buenos Aires to Brasilia.

Heavily outnumbered this month, the Argentines have managed to cause a stir, both on the pitch and off. With Lionel Messi dragging his side ever closer to a potential final showdown with Brazil – they play Colombia in tomorrow’s quarter-final, with Argentina facing Belgium the following day – fans have crossed the border en masse.

For the Switzerland clash, an estimated 70,000 supporters descended on Sao Paulo, though only 10,000 reportedly had tickets. They slept in motor homes and tents along the strip that routes the city’s carnival parade.

In Rio de Janeiro last week, as Argentina prepared to conclude their Group F campaign against Nigeria, Copacabana was a sea of blue and white; its Fifa Fan Fest reverberating to tunes and chants dedicated to La Albiceleste.

In the earlier group tussle with Iran in Belo Horizonte, settled by Messi’s last-minute winner, 38,000 Argentines stayed behind to celebrate their captain. At the same time, they goaded their hosts.

“Brazil,” they sang, “tell me how it feels to have daddy in your house?”

Yet Brazilians give as good as they get. The competitiveness extends beyond football, as they view their Argentine cousins as excessively assured, bordering on arrogant.

Argentina used to be the continent’s superpower, much to the chagrin of the country five times its size in population and infinitely bigger, it seems, in mass. Now Brazil has supplanted Argentina, as its people are never slow to remind.

The anti-Argentina bias has been obvious these past few weeks. During Nigeria’s match with Iran last month, two Argentines among a predictably Brazil-heavy crowd in Curitiba began shouting for their national team.

Those in canary yellow reacted with a few friendly jibes, before some took offence and fired back barbs and brickbats.

On Tuesday, as Argentina laboured against Switzerland, the Brazilians in attendance at the Arena Corinthians took great pleasure in serenading each European touch with a chorus of “Ole”.

The enmity stretches long into the past. Since their first meeting in 1914, Brazil and Argentina have continually battled for continental and global prizes.

They have scrapped thrice before at a World Cup, with each emerging victorious once, while they contested two of the past three Copa America finals. Brazil won both.

Pele and Maradona, the two greatest to have played the game, who continue to split opinion on who trumps the other as its undisputed king, personify the rivalry.

It has carried over to this World Cup, with Messi leading Argentina and Neymar embodying home hopes. Some even bow to the former’s undeniable ability on the field.

“If Argentina win the World Cup, it won’t be a travesty,” says Andre Rosa Silva, a Sao Paulo-based recruitment consultant. “Because they have Messi, and I am a supporter of good football.”

He is most certainly in the minority. Others say Argentina’s potential coronation, on Brazilian soil, would be much more ignominious than the famous Maracanazo of 1950, which still haunts the country today.

Back at Concessao de Jacare, where Messi was being shackled by the Swiss, one of the locals raised eyebrows by encouraging Argentina to seek victory.

“I want to see them beat Switzerland, simply because they are a South American team,” he said. “And then for Argentina to go out in the quarter-finals. It will be good if they feel they have a piece of the trophy before it’s snatched from them.”

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