‘Gracias, obrigado’ Argentina and Brazil

ISTANBUL (Eurovision) - It was 'el clasico'.

Everyone knew Brazil v Argentina would be one of the great games at the FIBA World Championship and so Tuesday night's clash proved to be.

It was a battle between South America's giants, a contest ultimately decided by heroes - one of them unheralded and another a superstar.

When Leandro Barbosa buried back-to-back three-pointers at the start of the fourth quarter to give Brazil a 72-66 lead, they were in the ascendancy.

This was a team coached by Ruben Magnano, a side with the NBA-bound Tiago Splitter, a Brazil with an in-form Marcelo Huertas who had drawn rave reviews by

Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski.

After a decade of Argentinian dominance at the top of South America, this was to be the first victory of many for Brazil, their fans thought.

I thought, too.

But Argentina are Argentina.

They are the number one team in the FIBA World Rankings.

They do not have Manu Ginobili or Andres Nocioni.

They do have Hernan Jasen.

They do have Luis Scola.

So when Barbosa's three-pointers ripped the nets in the first minute of the second half, Jasen, the most unheralded of the Argentinian starting five, the

player that for one reason or another hasn't been able to play for his country during their decade of excellence, made up for lost time.

He hit not one, but two three-pointers.

The captain of Estudiantes in Spain's rough-and-tough ACB finished with 15 points.

He fouled out, but Scola did not.

Scola, who never has to be asked if he is going to represent Argentina in the summer, put on one of the great performances in the history of the FIBA World

Championship.

He scored 37 points, hitting shot after shot after shot.

Scola rarely missed, making 14 of 20 from the floor.

Forget the words 'international superstar' when it comes to Scola.

He is a superhero.

Lex Luther wouldn't have been able to stop him.

In the Sinan Erdem Dome, Scola carried Argentina to victory.

Huertas, who kept Brazil in the game until the very last second when he hit a running three-pointer, finished with 32 points.

He played a captain's role for the Brazilians.

The score said Argentina 93, Brazil 89.

At the end, Argentina's players ran to the corner of the floor to dance and sing with their fans and Brazil slowly walked off the floor.

Huertas had lived 40 minutes of ‘el clasico’ and broke into tears as he walked off the court.

Brazil's fans cried, too.

Everyone knew this game would be a thriller.

The neutral fan that loves both of these teams also knew there would be an empty feeling at the end because we didn't want either of these sides to lose.

(You can see Argentina's Quarter Final match-up with Lithuania, Thursday live on FIBATV.com.)

Jeff TAYLOR