Residents of Melbourne’s west will be among the almost 100,000-strong crowd at the soccer blockbuster between Brazil and Argentina at the MCG on Friday.
And for some like Yukiyoshi Kamimura of Kingsville, who was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the clash is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
“It’s a dream come true,” Mr Kamimura said.
“Despite having spent the first 21 years of my life in Brazil, I’ve never actually had the opportunity to see Brazil play live.
“This will be the first time. It will be quite emotional for me. I can’t wait.”
Mr Kamimura said although the match was a friendly, two giant South American rivals would be facing-off on June 9.
“Despite being a friendly match, I don’t think either team wants to lose,” Mr Kamimura said.
“For Brazil, it’s just another opportunity to experiment with different players, but there’s a lot more at stake.
“For Argentina, they’ll see this as an opportunity to create a good team cohesion and classify for the World Cup in Russia next year.”
