PORTO ALEGRE // Whisper it, but if you are in Brazil and are wanting to cheer on Argentina in the 2014 Fifa World Cup, then Porto Alegre seems like a pretty good place to be.
This is not Sao Paulo, or Rio de Janeiro, where La Albiceleste are about as welcome as a vegetarian feijoada.
In this leafy city in the country’s southern Rio Grande do Sul, Argentine fans were everywhere yesterday, out to support their side in their Group F clash with Iran. The match was contested more than 1,700 kilometres north in Belo Horizonte, but you would not know it.
Supporters saw no need to mask their identity. A tiny Argentinian restaurant that spills out onto the street carried considerable noise, as those inside and out chanted Lionel Messi’s name. There was a song, too, about “El Diego”, but pidgin Portuguese, or a grasp of Spanish that extends no further than “hola” or “gracias”, meant it was difficult to fully understand. It was safe to assume, though, there was no verse dedicated to Maradona’s time with Al Wasl.
Yesterday, at least, you could even declare your allegiance from outside a car sunroof, megaphone in hand and almost glued to mouth as your driver and fellow passengers laughed uncontrollably and cranked up the volume on the car radio.
Maybe the lead cheerleader could not hold a tune, after all.
The disregard for South America’s most renowned rivalry is easily explained: Porto Alegre is not all that far from the Argentine border, and the city has a heavy European influence.
That does not necessarily equate to a love for all things Argentinian, of course, but it illustrates why here appears more multi-cultural, less staunchly Brazilian.
It is an affluent and agreeable place. If a little bit chilly at this time of year.
jmcauley@thenational.ae
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