Brazil supportted Argentina comprehensively. He adds: "Since the 80s, a relationship of friendship has been gradually promoted. We also share the only bilateral mechanism in the world for the inspection and verification of our peaceful use of nuclear devices: the ABACC.
For many, the main soccer rivalry is with England, which outdates the Malvinas War and more recent events. For Argentines, the soccer relationship with Brazil is marked by frontal, intense and legitimate competition, which I do believe to be reciprocal. We admire them, and they admire us, they challenge us, and we challenge them, we provoke them and they provoke us and they respect us and we respect them.
It had to apologize the next day. They repay us with mockery and ill wishes," says Alabarces. But the invasion has also sharpened Brazilian thoughts about Argentina, which they would rather have kept out of mind until next month, given that the two titans of South America cannot meet each other in this competition before its final.
They are uncontrollable when they come here, too. They drive their cars so fast that our police cannot stop them. These insults have been raining in for days.
The Brazilian media characterises the fight in straightforward terms — Messi v Neymar, Maradona v Pele — though it is actually far more complicated and interesting than that. The Brazilians might consider the Argentines to have all the qualities of a wasp but writer and The Independent columnist Alex Bellos, author of the brilliant Futebol, subscribes to the view that Brazilians are not all that interested in that nation.
Argentina, with their inferior football history, have a narrower perspective. They just want to put one over on their neighbours. The picture is even more complicated here in the southerly Rio Grande do Sul, which in some ways is Argentinian by any other name. The region shares with Argentina and Uruguay some of the same vast grasslands which gave birth to the gaucho cowboy. The gaucho, most commonly associated with Argentina, is the local symbol, just like theirs. Brazilians love a gaucho in their team because it is thought they are tougher, run harder and with more heart and passion than those from the heart of Brazil.
Luiz Felipe Scolari, a son of Porto Alegre, is the classic gruff, grumpy gaucho. So it hardly feels like Brazil at all. But since the re-democratisation, both countries have each day more built more bridges for local co-operation.
The aforementioned war did not leave any profound or durable scars between Brazilians and Argentineans. Both peoples live together well.
When the economic winds are in their favour, Argentineans go to Brazil, travel around, rent houses and buy everything. There are many Brazilians living and working in Argentina, and the opposite is true as well. As Spanish speakers, Argentineans do not put much effort into learning Portuguese, as they can communicate well in Brazil.
Interestingly, Brazilians can learn Spanish in an easier way. There are several Argentineans who live and work for their whole adult life in Brazil and do not speak Portuguese, but are perfectly adjusted.
In the past decade or so, however, Brazil has taken a prominent place not only in South America but also around the world. Argentineans, meanwhile, have been suffering for years from prolonged economic and social crises.
Yet cultural rivalries were always strongly accentuated between both countries, and the sports fields have been the perfect spot for these conflicts to emerge. Brazilian and Argentinean teams of any sport are always facing off against each other. In local South American tournaments or even playing for a spot in the Olympics or in international tournaments, a Brazil vs Argentina game is a battle where players always display extra energy.
The rivalry is tremendous: one country may have a superior team, but the spirited fight is always there. In the past few years, Argentineans have been better in sports such as basketball, while Brazil has dominated in volleyball. For the men, both sports are very competitive. Great names such as goalkeeper Jose Poy, who played for Sao Paulo in the s and later became a coach on that team, or more recently, Carlos Tevez, are part of the Brazilian footballing world.
Argentineans have also made a contribution to other sports in Brazil. Currently, the male Brazilian basketball team is coached by Ruben Magnano, the Argentinean coach who won the gold medal with Argentina at the Athens Olympics. It is very hard to play an Argentinean team in their headquarters.
They provoke; they insult. On the other hand, Argentinean nationalism has built a very resilient people.
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