Argentine soccer fans write stadium anthems

The San Lorenzo soccer team has just scored the decisive goal to qualify for the Libertadores Cup. But in the stands behind one of the goals, fans of the Argentine team barely notice.

In those seats, reserved for the most passionate followers, nobody is paying much attention to the match. Under a sea of the team's blue and red banners, so many that they make it almost impossible to see the pitch, the fans dance, jump and sing.

They play trumpets and crash cymbals and chant pop songs with the lyrics changed, turning them into odes to their team.

Carolina Rutkoweski waves her arms and shakes her hips as she sings: "San Lorenzo, what I feel I can't explain / I'll be with you always / Because the blue and red runs in my soul," to the music of Luis Fonsi's hit "Despacito."
Only weeks before the start of the World Cup, San Lorenzo fans have written a new song for the Argentine national team, hoping it will become as popular with players and audience as the one sung in stadiums during the last World Cup, a put-down to host country Brazil based on a melody by Creedence Clearwater Revival that went "Oh Brazil, tell me how it feels."
"In soccer culture there are battle songs, they're like a call to arms. But our songs don't have many insults or references to drugs. Our intention is to celebrate, not to inspire violence."
Surprised by the phenomenon, Fonsi thanked San Lorenzo: "You were the first to take 'Despacito's melody and turn it into an anthem to cheer on your team."
"It's just like multiplication tables, you work hard to memorize them," says Andrea Epifanio, a nurse who is a fan of San Lorenzo. I play the songs on my phone and sing along with them, and I don't give a damn what other people think."
"They are people that make money out other people's supposed passion for a team, and they have no qualms about harming others, even forcing a game to be cancelled if they don't get what they want."
The Wooden Planks say they have nothing to do with all that, insisting that "we may be rivals, but we are not enemies."