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Brazil, Argentina to face off in Australia

Ricardo Moraes / Reuters

El Superclasico de las Americas is stepping outside of South America.

On Thursday, the Confederacao Brasileira de Futebol confirmed that Brazil and Argentina will play a friendly in Melbourne, Australia on June 9. The fixture is part of the Chevrolet Brasil Global Tour and will take place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which boasts a capacity of 100,000.

The official announcement was made by the government of Victoria, Australia, whose sports minister, John Eren, told reporters: "We will have the best two teams clashing here at the MCG."

Brazil and Argentina have already battled twice in 2018 World Cup qualifying, with the two national teams playing out a 1-1 draw at El Monumental in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2015, before the Selecao thrashed La Albiceleste 3-0 at Estadio Mineirao in Belo Horizonte, Brazil in 2016.

Since Tite was appointed as Brazil's manager, the Selecao are undefeated in World Cup qualifying, boasting six consecutive victories. The national team sits atop CONMEBOL's standings with six matchdays remaining, and may already have enough points to qualify.

Argentina, meanwhile, is fifth, which doesn't guarantee automatic qualification and entails an intercontinental play-off against a national team from Oceania. La Albiceleste was winless through four World Cup qualifiers before snapping the streak with a 3-0 win versus Colombia.

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