Latin American football fans never need much excuse to get excited, but the region’s best start to a World Cup in years is fuelling the fiesta and giving them a shot of sporting pride.

Six out of seven Latin American teams at the World Cup have qualified for the knockout phase in South Africa, compared with just four at the last World Cup in Germany in 2006.

Slick football from teams like Chile and Uruguay as well as traditional giants Argentina and Brazil has seen the region’s teams thrive.

In Buenos Aires, the early exits of fancied European nations such as Italy and France have fuelled hopes that national icon Maradona can coach Argentina to victory.

It is the Brazilians, however, who are brimming with the most confidence. Two-thirds of them believed they would win the World Cup in South Africa, compared to 48 percent of Argentinians, 15 percent of Chileans and 12 percent of Mexicans, according to a survey commissioned by Brazil’s Ibope polling firm.

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