As They Invade, Argentines Seek Soccer Conquest

There is a new song going around the World Cup, a ditty sung by the Argentines to taunt their Brazilian hosts and long-standing rivals. The gist is simple. It asks the Brazilians how they feel about being bossed around in their own country and tells them to prepare for an Argentine championship on their own soil. (Complete FIFA World Cup 2014 coverage)

It ends with the most incendiary statement of all: "Maradona es mas grande que Pele."

Even the Argentine players were singing it in their locker room after their 1-0 victory against Switzerland on Tuesday, just the latest salvo fired in one of international soccer's greatest rivalries. (Can Lionel Messi tame 'underdogs' Belgium?)

The song, provocative and perhaps disrespectful, will probably be heard at Estadio Nacional on Saturday, when Argentina plays Belgium in a World Cup quarterfinal, as it was at a makeshift campground here filling up with Argentine fans. But the song is not nearly as provocative as what could come later. (Related: Rent a crowd? Belgium bank on support from Brazil in match vs Argentina)

For many Brazilians, the notion of tens of thousands of Argentines roaming their countryside and descending en masse in various Brazilian cities is unappealing on its own. But the idea of their winning the World Cup on Brazilian soil, with Lionel Messi hoisting the trophy at Estadio do Maracana and all those fans in sky blue and white drunkenly celebrating in the streets of Rio de Janeiro, is almost too much to bear.

Brazil desperately wants to win the World Cup. Just as desperately, most of its citizens recoil at the thought of the winners being the marauding invaders from the south.

There is little that gets under the skin of Brazilian soccer fans more than the Argentines, who have an illustrious soccer history of their own. But it is by no account as illustrious as Brazil's. The hosts have won five World Cups; Argentina two. In a hotly disputed rivalry that dates back 100 years - to Sept. 20, 1914, when Argentina won, 3-0, in Buenos Aires - Brazil has the overall advantage: 43 wins, 37 losses and 24 draws.

And yet many Argentines not only claim to be better at soccer, they say their best player, Diego Maradona, was better than Pele, Brazil's iconic star. What's next? The tango is better than the samba?

"When I was a boy, I always heard we were the best in the world, when we had not yet won a world championship," said Alejandro Sabella, Argentina's 59-year-old coach. "It's the way we are. It's our culture."

This is what the Brazilians get for hosting the World Cup. An estimated 100,000 Argentine fans have swarmed the country, in the eastern cities of Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte and particularly Porto Alegre, which is not far from the Argentine border.

For the past few days, they have been arriving in Brasilia, Brazil's on-edge capital city, easily distinguishable by their blue-and-white jerseys and Spanish accents.

"I am a little nervous," said Alfredo da Silva, a 22-year-old employee of a clothing store here. "They are very aggressive. Some of them are a little crazy."

Scenes of violence are not uncommon in the domestic leagues in both Argentina and Brazil, but there have been only a handful of fan-related incidents reported at this World Cup. But two involved Argentines, whose hard-core followers have reputations as being among the most belligerent in South America.

One was  a simple gate-crashing affair at the Maracana in Rio, and the other a drunken bottle-throwing incident involving Argentine and Brazilian fans in Belo Horizonte. The police ultimately broke it up with tear gas.

There will be a heavy police presence Saturday, with 3,448 officers on hand from various branches of the Brazilian security forces - the same number used at the other World Cup games here, according to Paulo Roberto B. Oliveira, the secretary of public security in Brasilia.

Oliveira has spoken with his counterparts in Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte and Rio, asking about what to expect and how to prepare. He has also met with a delegation from the Argentine embassy here and has been gathering information from highway checkpoints to gauge the number of fans headed for Brasilia.

Although a large number of fans, most without tickets, descended on Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte and Sao Paulo, Oliveira said he thought the numbers would be smaller in Brasilia, perhaps only 30,000, even as the games grow more important.

"They believe they will win and go to the semifinals," he said. "Brasilia is far away. Many of their fans are waiting for them to come back to Sao Paulo."

Part of the thinking, also, is that Argentine tourists love beaches. As much as they were willing to visit the coast cities, fewer are inclined to travel to Brasilia, a 13-hour drive from Sao Paulo.

But many have made the trip. Argentines, more than most South Americans, travel by camper and motor home, Oliveira said. The federal district supplied a large parking lot 9 miles from the stadium, replete with 120 showers, 60 toilets, a makeshift food court and television screens to watch the game, for those who do not have tickets.

"We want to welcome them with the minimum amount of services so they can stay here with dignity," Oliveira said. "They are our guests."

By Thursday night, about 20 campers, vans and a few buses set up camp in the parking lot as police officers, members of the Argentine embassy and a few Argentine police officers, acting as observers, stood watch.

Many of these fans are only temporary comrades. They support rival clubs in Argentina like the most famous, Boca Juniors and River Plate, where violence sometimes mars the games. But while on tour in Brazil, they are united.

"For the World Cup we are friends," said Ezequuiel Martinez, who flew in from Buenos Aires on Thursday. "But only for one month."

As they drank beer and chatted about the games, the fans were all supremely confident, not only about the quarterfinal against Belgium but about the whole tournament. As the song goes, they will boss Brazil around, even if they meet in the final at the Maracana.

Oliveira, the security secretary whose job it is to ease tension, tried to be diplomatic about that prospect.

"It would be great if Brazil plays Argentina at the final, and let the best team win," he said. "Of course, that will be Brazil."

© 2014 New York Times News Service