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Tonight's soccer match between Brazil and Argentina may officially be a friendly, but try telling that to the thousands of fans from both countries who will be flocking to the MCG.
"It is a friendly game, but still it is not a friendly for us," said Pedro Gonzalez, who moved from Argentina to Australia 22 years ago.
"Football is part of our blood, it is a passion."
Brazilian expat David Junior said any match between the two teams was a matter of national pride.
"When it comes to Brazil and Argentina there is no friendly match, it always goes to the last minute, it will be hard," he said.
"We are away from home and we are watching our team play against Argentina — it is not a World Cup, but it has the same feeling."
A crowd of more than 95,000 fans is expected for the match after tickets sold out in May.
Gonzalez grew up in Guernica, on the southern fringe of Buenos Aires, where the people are "humble", and have two sporting loves: local club Boca Juniors, and the Argentine national team.
"When Argentina plays the whole country stops, nobody moves, not even a taxi, not even a bus. The country stops," he said.
The former amateur boxer, who now works as an industrial painter, moved to Australia to follow his parents, who left during the strife-torn era of the late 1970s.
On Friday night, he will take his youngest son Daniel, 12, to see Argentina play live for the first time.
"I want him to see these giants of soccer," he said, referring to Argentina stars Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuain and Angel di Maria.
"Messi is so tiny and small but so powerful with the ball and so skilled."
Daniel's pre-match routine will involve putting his Argentina top on, drinking a hot cocoa, and joining a group of friends and family to march to the MCG.
"I hope we win, but Brazil is a very good team, so I think it will be close," he said.
The Argentinians are expecting to be outnumbered by Brazil fans, who have been flying in from around the country.
David Junior, 37, has been living in Australia for 15 years after growing up in Sao Paulo.
"As kids we were watching our fathers, uncles, friends say Brazil versus Argentina is the rivalry … it is huge," he said.
"It is just the history — two cultures that are very close, soccer is very big in both of them, and who is going to be the best? Maradona or Pele — who is the best?"
Junior said he had been pestered all week from friends and family back in Brazil.
"Everyone has been calling — are you going to see the players? Have you walked around the city to see them around? Have you got signatures on your shirt?" he said.
Brazilian fans will get a second chance to see their side when they play the Socceroos on Tuesday.
Topics: soccer, sport, melbourne-3000, vic
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