Forza Azzuri, I respect what you are saying, and I do agree with you that there are 25 million people of Italian decent in Brasil (Large Italian community in Sao Paulo and Minas Geral area), but there is said to be over 45 million Portuguese decent in Brasil, not including people that have mixed and so on. So it is a moot point. I don't agree with the Portuguese people "cheering" Brasil when they won the world. Its a bit classless in my opinion, but I do admit I go for them after we are knocked out. Its arguable, but Portugal has more of a connection to Brasil then Italy. Many of us have family that live there (Including me a set of aunts and cousins). Not to mention, we share the same language, it can be said that Portugal itself is influenced heavily by Brasil the way the USA influences Canada. There are over ~ 600,000 Brasilian living in Portugal, about 1/20th the populus, and many of us... have been in relationships with Brasilians at one point or another. We are also have close political ties to Luso countries, Brasil is no different. A holder of a Portuguese passport could go over there and become a Brasilian citizen rather easily, after I believe, 1 year. So you can see why some Portuguese will relate, but its rather stupid. Most will do it just to hop on the bandwagon, chase glory, etc...personally I find it silly. But hey, every other Central American Spanish country do (Some even claim that THEY have similar cultures, which is LAUGHABLE), so why not the Portuguese? P.S:The Italian vs Portugal thing is a bit prevalent here in Montreal as well, but no where near as intense.
We have more Portuguese and Italians here and they coexist in some parts of the city. When i was in highschool, even the Woodbridge (suburb) Italians had beef with the St. Clair (city) Italians
I remember hearing the Toronto Police saying they were hoping france would win the 2006 semi final with Portugal by that point, Italy booked their final spot they didnt want Portugal-Italy final would have caused problems lol once again they werent drawn together, never seems to happns, probably never will. not to mention they always seem to be put on opposite sides of the draw.
Yea I wanted them in the group as well. Would have been epic. Germany, Italy, Portugal and Netherlands!
not possible, it was either italy/germany/russia/sweden for us form that pot and we got germany anyways Im a rarity in that dont really care about italy in all honestly, even if I live in this retard city toronto. if we had some tournament games against them maybe it would be different. I was even picked on by italian fan randoms in 2006 for wearing a portugal shirt, at wasaga beach (a shithole I never return to anymore) and got in a fight but I know its cause they are retards and they arent all like that. I have stronger feelings about France, Spain , greece (we have alot of those around too), England, even Germany and Holland
Are you the one that stole my Italian flag at Wasaga Beach ??? I have a cottage their and some Portuguese fans yelled from their car to take down my flag as I was cutting the grass. This is the day after we beat Ukraine and Portugal still had to play England (Saturday). I shouted out that you still had to beat England before you get cocky. I went inside for a second and the flag was gone when I returned. I am sure these Portuguese fans are silently praying to this flag on a daily basis hoping it would bring Portugal some championships Yes I love you guys !!!!
I just spat out my coffee, thanks for that I think it was a Woodbridge Italian that did it........... lol
True my bad. Thanks for the help. And I was at wassaga beach for the first time this summer. It was a pretty cool beach, but it was such a hicktown. I felt like I was in middle America..lol
Quoted for the truth. There are absolutely no ill-feelings by Italians towards Portuguese people. And no football rivalry either. And I'm pretty sure people from Portugal feel the same way.
Very true, I remember my friend was in Italy during WC 2006 and he told me everyone he spoke with was voting for Portugal in the semi final. It does seem to be a Toronto, Montreal and probably Vancouver thing, or any western city in which both nationalities have huge populations.
LOL. I attended the Woodbridge Italian festival wearing my Portugal jersey on just to piss them off. I respect their culture, but some of them have massive ego's the size of grapefruits. Especially the old people, their superior complex is out of control. the same can be said about the portuguese, but that's just the way it is. Btw, I have many English, Italians, Polis & Russian friends... just great to see a mix of cultures in our city.
Agreed. Portugal fans are out of control, but the english are much worse. I've seen some bad shit going on when we won OVER them. It was really bad. Forca Portugal! FU Toronto Policia
Id never do that, I just dont think its right to disrespect any flags or steal anything. my friend wiped his ass with greece flags after they beat us in euro 2004, and had it as his display pic on MSN and shit (no facebook back then)
I am Portuguese and live in Portugal and I can assure you that noone here in Portugal has anything against the Italians. Perhaps some Portuguese don't normally cheer for Italy but that's only because of their style of play which is a little "defensive oriented". I myself loved the Italy team with Roberto Baggio, and found myself cheering for them because he was such a great player and a class act. I just recently discovered from cousins who live in Canada that there is a huge Portugal-Italy rivalry in Toronto. I was completely bewildered when I heard this... Why? Completely stupid in my opinion. Here in Portugal the only rivalry that exists is with Spain. In recent years some Portuguese fans felt disgusted with the English for being such sore losers blaming CR7 for their loss because he winked, or got Rooney sent off, or didn't lay down when Rooney his teammate at Manchester had the ball. Also calling us divers and cheats in every English newsapaper that ever existed didn't help either. I realized then what sore losers they were. At least the Portuguese accept their defeats and move on, we don't blame our adversaries. Oh yes, some don't like the French cause they've been knocking us out of every tournament since 1984.
Most of the BS here from my understanding is from the "every 2 year / 4 year " fans i.e. the people who only care about soccer when WC/ Euro comes around so they can be nationalistic and party. Talk about Portuguese league to alot of these people you get blank stares of confusion.
Your friend is a douche. Was he one of the pork chops that got beaten up in Greek town during WC 2006?
The Portugal-Italy rivalry thing is a complete construct of first generation kids of immigrants in Canada and to a lesser extent the US. I was in Portugal during the South Africa WC and the general attitude was to support Portugal first and foremost, Brazil second, and European teams third but there was no clear anti-anybody feeling on a population level.
