United Force

"The Barra Brava works how America is supposed to work," says Conner, a recreation coordinator for Culpeper County, Va. "It's a great melting pot. We have 27 different nationalities there now. We have guys from Africa, we have guys from Europe, and South America, which is obviously our roots that we want to hold on to. What we want to be is the standard for American hard-core support."

Though Latinos are now in the minority, the Barra Brava is a case of assimilation running in the opposite direction.

In return for the love, ticket sales and irresistible TV camera bait, D.C. United goes out of its way to accommodate the Barra Brava.

The group has its own ticket window in the stadium.

The team consigns tickets at group rates, which the Barra Brava sells to members for slightly more, plowing the proceeds into expenses. At the Galaxy game, the Barra filled 1,000 seats, according to Zambrana. At a more typical recent Saturday night game -- one without the spectacle of Beckham -- Zambrana distributed about 600 tickets through the ticket window and from the trunk of his car.

Other fan groups cheer D.C. United, which is second in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer. A smaller Latino-inflected one is called la Norte. Filling three sections next to the Barra Brava is the equally passionate but less boisterous Screaming Eagles.

The Barra Brava makes the rules in its anarchic zone. Smoking is allowed, throwing beer is encouraged, wearing the jerseys of opponents is forbidden. Assigned seating is suspended, so more people can cram into the sections. Some of the songs are profane. The lyrics contain advice to the referees, certain fanciful musings about what one could do if one were a crow flying above the opposing team, and certain characterizations of the parenthood of Barra members who are not jumping. Most members are men, but a large fraction are women, and children watch, too, acquiring a vivid bilingual vocabulary.

Yet the wild-for-D.C. Barra Brava is mild by international standards. In parts of Latin America, the term "barra brava" connotes hooliganism. That's a line the Barra Brava has never crossed, according to members, team officials and police.

"We're trying to bring the ideas from South America and from Europe, but without the violence," says Zambrana.

"It's controlled chaos, but it's not bad," says D.C. police Sgt. Brian Corrigan, who is part of the detail that works the sidelines in front of the Barra Brava. "Tonight the smoke bombs were limited."

The team created a buffer zone behind the Barra Brava sections, not selling tickets there because fans who want to sit and watch the game can't see over the always-standing Barra Brava.

"We warn people of that if they are buying single-game tickets in the vicinity," says Payne.