Close to the geographical heart of Brazil, in the little-known state of Tocantins, soccer players argued with a referee over a decision. Tensions ran high at the state championship match in the small town of Peixe, and in the midst of the ruckus, an official observer called Silvio Santana Ribeiro, an Afro-Brazilian player, a "monkey.'

The incident barely made a ripple outside the town of 9,000, and police ignored the victim, a middle school teacher.

But as Brazil pulled behind its defender Daniel Alves after a banana was thrown in his direction while he was playing for Barcelona, the episode in Tocantins revealed the country's complicated relationship with racial identity.

While a long history of intermarriage created an impression of racial tolerance, soccer is one area of life in Brazil in which scratching beneath the surface reveals lingering prejudices.

"We are men of science and principles, and we know how to deal with people,' said Santana Ribeiro, 36, from Paran. "I was armed with substantiated arguments that I imagined would be enough, but he used a weapon that knocks down any science '" prejudice '" and called me a monkey.'

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