(CNN) — Brazil thought its nightmare was over — but perhaps it’s only just beginning.
After the humiliation of being obliterated by Germany, those who had dreamed of a Brazilian World Cup triumph might have thought they would be left alone to quietly lick their words or perhaps console themselves with a sombre walk along the shores of the Copacabana.
Alas, such a luxury will not be afforded to them — not now at least.
Instead neighbors Argentina will launch an invasion of Rio Sunday hoping to start their own party in its arch rival’s back yard.
This was the result which Brazil feared — the scenario it never wanted to face, to have Argentina, its oldest foe, walk out at the Maracana on Sunday just 90 minutes away becoming world champions.
While Brazil had leaked goals in its shambolic defeat by Germany, Argentina displayed true grit and then calm under pressure in a penalty shootout to book its place in the World Cup final for the first time in 24 years — the fifth in its history.
Don’t bother telling those with their faces painted blue and white that was a tepid and insipid encounter.
They’re probably still jumping up and down with joy — while celebrating Argentinian Independence Day like never before.
“I’m very happy because we reached the final and now we will see what we can do,” Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella told reporters.
“We will give everything as usual, with humility, work and 100% effort.”
A goalless 120 minutes was enough to bore most to tears but when Maxi Rodriguez struck the decisive penalty kick to win the shootout 4-2, the march to Rio began and Brazil closed its eyes.
For the third time, Argentina will play Germany in the final having won in 1986 and lost in 1990 — but regardless of the opposition, it will surely need to improve on this performance.
LOOKING FOR A TICKET TO THE WORLD CUP?
FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, has long sold out of tickets for Sunday’s game in Maracana Stadium, but fans are still bidding big bucks in secondary markets.
Ticket prices for the game between Argentina and Germany range from $5,000 to $20,000 each, according to various ticket resellers.
eBay has tickets for between $3,000 and $12,000 as of Wednesday. Many of those have received hundreds of bids, and prices could climb even higher as the game day approaches.
Ticketbis, another ticket reseller, is offering them for as much as $6,500, while Viagogo, the global market for ticket resales, had them listed for between $5,000 and $20,000 earlier this month.
Tickets to Sunday’s game have a face value of between $440 and $990, depending on seating location, and FIFA says that demand for Sunday’s game is ten times that of capacity.
Maracana holds up to 75,000 fans.
But jacking up the price of tickets on the secondary market is illegal in Brazil.
That country has a long-standing law against scalping. Known as “the Fan Statute,” it’s a criminal offense to supply a ticket for more than its face value.
Fans are being warned of risks for buyers of scalped tickets, such as ending up with fake tickets or not getting their tickets at all. FIFA is even warning that it won’t honor scalped tickets at the gate.
A lot of the demand for World Cup soccer tickets has come from an unusual place this year — the United States.
While the sport still lags behind baseball and the NFL in popularity, more Yanks are following soccer — or football — as it’s known in most places.
According to Viagogo, the United States has been the second-largest market for ticket sales for this year’s games. The company attributes that largely to the proximity between the U.S. and Brazil and to soccer’s increasing popularity in the United States.
In fact, ticket purchases by Americans have outpaced those in several countries where football is by far the most popular sport, including Argentina, Mexico, Portugal, France and Italy.
The-CNN-Wire
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The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2014 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.
