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Lionel Messi playing at the MCG in 2017.Credit:Paul Rovere

Due to the revised international match calendar,this June window will be the second last before squads are announced for the November tournament in Qatar. There will be just one window remaining for possible friendlies,in September. Few national teams are as competitive for places as Brazil. The five-time world champions have called-up 50 players over the past 12 months.

Arguably,breaking into the Argentina squad is even more difficult. Coach Lionel Scaloni has selected 58 players during the past 12 months,in what has been somewhat of a transitional year for the squad.

“Brazil will come here to win this game. I think it’s the last game before the Brazilian coach will choose the squad for the World Cup,” Bobo said.

Sydney FC’s Bobo played 13 games for Brazil’s youth teams.Credit:Getty

The 37-year-old Sydney FC striker is no stranger to South America’s biggest rivalry. He made 13 appearances for Brazil’s under-20s side and was part of an extremely promising squad for the 2005 youth World Cup in The Netherlands,with would-beSelecao regulars Rafinha and Felipe Luis among his teammates.

While the burden to succeed wasn’t as great as Brazil’s senior team,the pain of being eliminated by an Argentina team even at youth level stung Bobo. It didn’t matter that theAlbiceleste that day boasted the core of the team that finished second at the 2014 World Cup,including a young Leo Messi.

“When Brazil play against Argentina we never have a friendly game,” he said. “I played a semi-final in the under-20 World Cup in Holland against Argentina,we lost 2-1. We played against Messi,[Sergio] Aguero,[Pablo] Zabaleta. Messi scored one ... for us,it was a big disappointment.”

Watch football’s biggest superstars in theUEFA Champions League,UEFA Europa League andUEFA Europa Conference League on Stan Sport. Coverage returns for the Semi-Finals next week with Manchester City v Real Madrid (Wednesday 4:35am AEST) and Liverpool v Villareal (Thursday 4:35am AEST). All matches streaming ad-free,live and on demand only onStan Sport.

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