SAO PAULO (AP) — A group of French-speaking fans were looking for a cab to go to Belgium’s World Cup game. Coming from the other direction on the famed Avenida Paulista, Flemish-speaking fans were loudly looking for lunch. They crossed each other, listened — looked at one another’s Belgian red shirts, and suddenly it was high fives and thumbs up.

It was the sporting spirit of Sao Paulo, which is all too rarely the political spirit of the Belgian capital Brussels.