All right, now the FIFA 2026 World Cup qualifiers are in full swing. Players are taking a break from playing club football to join their national squads. Though the World Cup is still almost two years away, it has already generated a lot of buzz among football fans, maybe even more than what one would imagine.
Football is the most watched sport worldwide. In some nations, it is seen almost like a religion. The sport has the biggest following in Africa and South America. Fans getting over-emotional and passionate is a common sight in South America. The continent is known for its emotionally charged fans. In the past, fans have started riots, threatened match officials, and even ordered hit jobs against players and referees on claims that they deliberately made their team lose. Yes, that’s right, players and referees in South America have lost their lives due to an angry crowd. Clearly, the fans take the sport to heart.
And it was on display when defending champions Argentina played Brazil earlier today. This match was played in the packed Maracana Stadium in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. Everything was going well when the players were warming up. After changing into game attire, the players returned to the field to sing their respective national anthems. The match took place just 5 minutes before kick-off when a massive fight broke out in the stands. Videos circulated on social media showed a scuffle between at least 100 fans. The shirts got torn, and there was a lot of kicking and punching. Punches were being thrown left, right, and center. It looked more like scenes from the movie Gladiator than a football World Cup qualifier.
And it didn’t just stop there. After the fight broke out, Brazilian police officials rushed into the stands. But instead of breaking apart the fights, the police officials charged the stands occupied by Argentinian fans and hit them with batons and sticks. The brutality really shook the football players. Argentine captain Lionel Messi was the first to show his anger. He instantly flagged down FIFA officials and stormed out of the ground along with his team. Naturally, Messi’s teammates followed the order of their captain, well, all but Emi Martínez, the star goalkeeper of Argentina whose heroics won them the 2022 World Cup. Messi and his team rushed into the locker room, but Martínez had other plans. He sprinted in the other direction toward the fans and tried to leap into the stands. Martínez was seen trying to shove police officials who were attacking Argentinian fans. Martínez managed to get a hold of one of the batons before his teammates dragged him away.
Eventually, the tempers cooled down a bit, and after a half-hour delay, the match began. The first half was scoreless, and players kept their game clean. In the second half, though, Nicolás Otamendi scored on a header in the 63rd minute to give Argentina the lead. But the friction from before the match was still present. In the 81st minute, Brazil’s Hington was handed a direct red card for recklessly shoving Argentina’s Rodrigo Deul to the ground. Once the final whistle was sounded, the handshakes between the two teams were cold.
Now, here’s what Argentina’s coach had to say about the match: “Beyond the match, I don’t know which words to use, I don’t know which word because I don’t want to be rude, but it’s very ugly to see that happen, whether it’s an Argentinian or a Brazilian. It’s very ugly, and some of our players had family there. They didn’t know if they were there to play a match. In these conditions, it was difficult.”
However, the Brazilian coach slightly put the blame on the fans, asking them to be more mindful of what they chant: “I mean, it’s regrettable, and we hope that the fans will be more understanding about coming to the stadium to cheer, that the public authorities will also take care of these situations, that they can act preventively so that scenes like the ones that happen today don’t happen. Fans are passionate, they want us to win, so they have the right to boo. I think shouting ‘Ole’ for Argentina is a bit too much, but booing, being annoyed with the team because they are not winning, is extremely understandable.”
Clearly, Argentina feels Brazilian officials acted out, while Brazil feels that it was Argentinian fans who instigated the fight. Either way, this is not going away anytime soon, and it looks like one of the biggest football rivalries is back at the forefront. Thankfully, Brazil and Argentina are not poised to play against each other until March 2025. Hopefully, by then, the tempers will simmer down.