Brazil’s misery worsens with Argentina in final

Soccer fans of the Argentina national soccer team celebrate their team's victory during a live broadcast of the soccer World Cup match between Argentina and the Netherlands, inside the FIFA Fan Fest area on Copacabana beach, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, July 9, 2014. Argentina made it to the World Cup final with a 4-2 shootout win over the Netherlands after the game finished in a 0-0 stalemate. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo) Soccer fans of the Argentina national soccer team celebrate their team's victory during a live broadcast of the soccer World Cup match between Argentina and the Netherlands, inside the FIFA Fan Fest area on Copacabana beach, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, July 9, 2014. Argentina made it to the World Cup final with a 4-2 shootout win over the Netherlands after the game finished in a 0-0 stalemate. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

By Associated Press July 10, 2014 4 min read

SAO PAULO (AP) – After their own World Cup hopes fell apart in the most humiliating way, Brazilians must now grapple with the prospect that things could get even worse.

Argentina could win.

After beating the Netherlands in a shootout Wednesday, Brazil’s football archrival is now tantalizingly close to winning the World Cup for the first time since Diego Maradona lifted the trophy in 1986.

To many Brazilians, Argentina becoming world champion on Brazilian soil would be the worst imaginable ending to the monthlong tournament.

“We have a rule: we always go against the Argentines,” said Izabele Chiamolere, a 39-year-old physician from Sao Paulo. Like most Brazilians who attended Wednesday’s semifinal, she cheered for the Netherlands.