From Tim Vickery of Sports Illustrated. I usually like his pieces on Brasilian football. Here he writes about the growing interest and burgeoning education Brasilians are getting by learning more about football in other parts of SA. More importantly Brasilian clubs are starting to act like their European counterparts (Mexico started doing is a while ago)...becasue of their relatively strong currency and improved organization of football clubs (except for the Rio based ones which are still run like amateur social clubs)....
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/tim_vickery/12/23/argentina.brazil/index.html........And so cultural ties with Brazil's southern neighbor have strengthened, and a TV team has gone down to give on-the-spot coverage of the decisive moment in Argentina's championship. But there's another reason Brazilian soccer should be looking south: As more continental integration takes place, there will almost certainly be more Argentine players playing for Brazilian clubs.
Some high-profile Argentines are already playing in Brazil. Internacional of Porto Alegre has Andrés D'Alessandro and Pablo Guiñazú. In Rio, Darío Conca schemes for Fluminense, while Rubens Sambueza and Maxi Biancucchi (Lionel Messi's cousin) play for Flamengo and Leandro Zárate for Botafogo. In São Paulo, striker Germán Herrera had an excellent year with Corinthians, although it may have to lose him in order to accommodate Ronaldo.
And there's plenty of interest in bringing in other big-name players from Argentina. After recovering from his injury problems, former Argentine national-team captain Juan Pablo Sorín has rejoined Cruzeiro. Proposals from Brazil have been made to the likes of Juan Sebastián Verón of Estudiantes de La Plata and Jesús Dátolo of Boca Juniors.
This trend is easy to understand. Brazil's currency is stronger than Argentina's and it pays higher wages. With Brazil selling more than 1,000 players abroad per year, it makes perfect sense for its clubs to look to Argentina for replacements.
But Brazilian clubs could do more than that. Instead of merely buying in Argentine talent, they could also help develop it. Perhaps the most interesting case of an Argentine player in Brazil is 21-year-old Ariel Nahuelpan, picked up by Coritiba from Nueva Chicago. Nahuelpan is a burly striker who, especially towards the end of the season, formed a good partnership with Keirrison, the Brazilian league's joint top scorer. Presumably, Coritiba's idea is to help develop Nahuelpan, give him visibility and then sell him at a profit.
Brazilian fans and officials complain that Europe whisks away its talent at an ever earlier age. But there are signs that Brazilian clubs are just starting to act in a similar way with countries in the rest of the continent. Cruzeiro, for example, recently signed highly rated teenagers Javier Reina from Colombia and Fidel Martínez from Ecuador. As the borders between Brazil and its neighbors finally loosen, Brazilian clubs should become more alert to the possibilities of snapping up youngsters from Argentina, the country which has won five of the last seven editions of the Under-20 World Cup. If that happens, Brazilian supporters will have something else to sing about.