Não é só futebol: a rivalidade Brasil X Argentina no Clarín e n'O Estado de São Paulo durante a Copa de 1978

Abstract

The 1978 Soccer World Cup, held in Argentina, can be considered one of the Cups that generated the most controversy and is the main object of this study. In this competition, one of the most controversial matches in World Cup history took place, when Argentina beat Peru by a score of 6-0, which eliminated Brazil from the competition, leaving the suspicion that Peru had facilitated the game for the local team. The Argentina team won the title of the competition amid a series of differences on and off the field, mainly with suspicions of manipulation of results. Researchers analyze that this competition was widely used by General Videla's government as propaganda for a "New Argentina" that was being built by the military regime. In this study, an analysis is made of the rivalry between Brazil and Argentina during the period in which the competition took place. To achieve this goal, the news that circulated in the newspapers Clarín, from Argentina, and O Estado de São Paulo, from Brazil, in June 1978, the period in which the competition took place, are compared. In addition to the dispute for the title of the Soccer World Cup, Brazil and Argentina also disputed geopolitical spaces, and these clashes brought friction in different areas, the main one concerning the differences over the construction of the Itaipu hydroelectric plant, located on the border between Brazil and Paraguay. There were also disputes related to food sovereignty - since the Brazilian swine herd was sacrificed due to the "African Plague" - and competitions were established for commercial partnerships with countries in the region, such as the clash involving the purchase of gas from Bolivia. This research highlights factors that reveal that the rivalry between the two countries is not limited to sport. On the contrary, the clashes in which these two countries meet are much deeper and cannot be resolved in 90 minutes, with a dispute of 11 against 11. Thus, this thesis considers that the rivalry between Brazil and Argentina did not start in football does not end with football either, but highlights that it was through this sport that it was possible to make this conflict more visible, since football takes place in a very simple and common language code for everyone, regardless of education, social class or gender .