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Brazil, Argentina to meet in New Jersey

MessiBrazil (Getty Images)

New York-area soccer fans are in for a summer treat.

Brazil and Argentina will square off in a June 9 friendly at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., pitting the two South American rivals and some of the top players in the world against each other. The date falls on a FIFA international fixture date, meaning that first-choice players like Lionel Messi and Neymar should be available for selection, though that is far from being a certainty at this point.

There have been rumblings about this proposed friendly for some time, but the the Argentine federation confirmed it, setting the wheels in motion for what is sure to be a unique event. Both teams have played at the venue before, with Argentina meeting the United States there last March, and Brazil playing against the United States there the previous August in the first friendly after the 2010 World Cup.

Excited for the match? Planning to go?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. If your calling for a Brazil, Arg, USA, Mex tourny — that would be different!

    ^ THIS ^

    Maybe i didn’t articulate it very well

    not sure you got it and nobody else did but thanks nonetheless

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  2. I went to the Us Brazil match, drove up from Philly area and my biggest gripe was that it took way to long to get to the parking lot. It seemed like two hours so it was probably like 45 minutes just to get out of my seat and out of the stadium. There are some great amenities in the stadium but I really did not like the overall design. The stadium is supposed to be NYC but no skyline view, no design flair, its just a bland design. I was highly disappointed in how the stadium looked and thought that the Giants and Jets should have done a better job. I spoke to a diehard NY fan and he was not happy with the designs of the three new stadiums.

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  3. and kaka wasn’t there because he just recently started getting called up again. he was injured and out of form for awhile. if he had been there, that would have said more to it being a B team then him not being there. we all know kaka is great, but the truth is, he was not a part of the selecao for awhile.

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  4. I hope NJ transit does a better job shifting people after the game this time. They need to add way more trains than they had on hand for the USA V. Argentina match. That is my only criticism of the match. Standing in line for over two hours to get on a train was not in the plan especially with a seven year old. Otherwise it sounds like a great time.

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  5. It’s an exhibition game yeah.

    But like folks are saying the Brazilian and Argentine national teams always HAVE to play hard against each other.

    So yeah it’s expensive but – how often do we get to see Neymar in US? Oh yeah, he scored on US in another friendly, after World Cup; I think also at Meadowlands, summer 2010.

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  6. If your calling for a Brazil, Arg, USA, Mex tourny — that would be different!

    Personally i think they should do something like that the year before the wc instead of the Gold Cup.. something like a 8 team tourny with Mexico and the USA plus 6 invitees.

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  7. Agreed, almost definitely not B or C teams, Brazil and Argentina ranked 6th and 10th respectively, both teams and the players on those squads have something to prove. It does not matter where they are playing, each will want to crush the other, either for pride or to ensure the player’s spot on the roster.

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  8. Yes in terms of bang for the buck, a reservation at a Brazilian restaurant is a better deal, all the meat you can eat and more than anyone should drink for about the price of just a ticket to the game. (barring 100 dollar bottles of wine) The weather inside will be perfect, if I miss a play, the TV will show the replay and in the restaurant, the ambient noise will probably drown out the announcer’s voice.

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  9. Problem is that these most likely won’t be anything close to C teams for Brazil or B teams for Argentina.

    Brazil has the World Cup to prepare for, and I’m pretty sure guys like Neymar & Ganso are going to be there since they are part of the pool from what I remember and they wouldn’t take a Senior spot.

    Argentina has no real games until late this year so they will want to get their squad tuned up right after the European seasons and CL ends. Last time the Albiceleste played in New York was against the US in March of last year, pretty sure I remember seeing a FULL squad there with Messi and all. Brazil played the year before that in the 1st friendly after the 2010 WC like Ives said and that was a team with some guys from the WC squad and a lot of new faces that most likely would be on the squad going forward like Neymar, Pato, Ganso etc etc… and that is how it happened

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  10. I dunno, Messi, Mascherano, Zanetti, DiMaria bothered to show up for a friendly with the USA in 2010 and played all the game Cambiasso played most, Kaka was not in the roster for the Brazil friendly with the USA in 2010, but Alves, Silva, Robinho. Neymar were. I am guessing that, barring injury ,all of the stars will show up if they are invited,. It is after all a chance to show the respective coaches what they can do against a tough opponent, and neither team has demonstrated the world dominance they used to exhibit, Spain Uraguay and even Germany could be considered to be more successful recently, in fact Brazil and Argentina are ranked 6th and 10th in the last FIFA ranking. Both teams have something to prove!

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  11. You’re conflating them selling their name with the media and public having to use the name. My issue, as indicated in my first post, is basically that “MetLife Stadium” doesn’t tell me much these days.

    Even from a business/ad standpoint it becomes a tad goofy if your average fan might not be sure where that stadium is. Superdome? Rose Bowl? Any doubt? But how about MetLife Stadium? M&T Bank Stadium? And if you knew what Pizza Hut Park was, now what is it?

    And while I grant your point about naming your own place, technically a NJ state sports agency owns it, and the vast majority of other stadiums are primarily taxpayer funded. In which case shouldn’t the name reflect the place at least a little before becoming an ad?

    And you could take or leave the last few points and still find the name game confusing, my basic point, because you need a running scoresheet to know what’s what, at which point it’s just complicating things for the average fan. You almost have to start describing the place for people to get it. I wouldn’t have known without “East Meadowlands, NJ.”

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  12. The Jets and Giants built the thing and sold naming rights to Met Life. Who are you to say the stadium shouldn’t be called Met Life Stadium?

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  13. Brazil has participated in the Gold Cup 3 times, that is how. However, only one guest team is allowed in each tournament. As for the torneo de las Americas, you can’t just throw together international tournaments…FIFA has annual calendars set in place and it would be pointless to pit two Federations against one another…they already do that with all the federations at the World Cup.

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  14. Neymar played significant minutes in a friendly against the USMNT in the United States last year. Is there a reason to think that he will snub a rivalry game against Argentina?

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  15. I would think that Brazil, at least, would take this game seriously. They have the 2012 Olympics coming soon after this game, so they might treat it as a tune-up for that competition. Unlike many countries they take the Olympic soccer tournament seriously. Or they could use this game in place of the World Cup 2014 qualifying that they’re missing out on. They might have a young, or slightly experimental, squad but I’d be surprised if their players don’t take it seriously. And if Brazil is taking the game seriously, Argentina will too. Nobody wants to get beat by their biggest rival.

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  16. Let’s see. Watch ARG B vs BRA C in that humpty dumpty of a stadium, take 3-4 hours to get there, in, out, and back to the city + get shaken down by security apes only to then get herded around in pens like cattle before leaving + drop $10 a Miller Light / $300 ducats per head min. Orrr… watch live from any number of local churrascerias with unlimited caipirinhas and roast meats conjured before me magically by wonderfully futbol savvy Brasileiras…

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  17. Agree, somewhat. I am so tired of the summer of football BS with high profile friendlies with seemingly random team on display. The difference is, i dont feel obligated to pay $100 for a bad seat even if I know Rooney etc it playing, because its a meaningless game.

    Promoters push the highlights of our soccer calendar to be these types of events, that are meaningless games with no intensity.

    the high profile friendly is overdone, and will hopefully lose its luster soon.

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  18. hOW WOULD THE gOLD cUP EVERY 2 YEARS HELP ME SEE THE sELECAO AND THE aLBICELESTE PLAY AGAINST THE 2 BEST IN OUR REGION IN A GROUP STAGE TOURNAMENT?

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  19. This is a friendly so there’s no point in seeing who’s actually better. And lest you forget soccer is a part of the entertainment industry. If the ringmasters can bring a lesser product to town and people will still pay to enter the tent, that’s all that matters.

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  20. I don’t necessarily disagree but the key facts in an article — game between x and y at z stadum — should not involve interpretation and logical elimination. If the stadium names are done such that they don’t communicate an identity or a place it’s nothing more than advertising and not really helpful for the reader.

    New Meadowlands identifies a place. MetLife is just an ad. Metlife New Meadowlands would at least tell me something and make the ad less blatant.

    In Ives’ defense, he said the place name too. I’m just saying that the stadium naming issue is starting to get problematic because the names no longer identify places and there is turnover from contract expiration and corporate financial problems/bankruptcy. So it’s not necessarily informational anymore to the fans and the fact that at least one fan on the board was basically like, “What is that?” underlines what I am saying.

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  21. Thats good and all, but CONCACAF WC qualifying starts that weekend bro. There is a reason why it’s a FIFA international date. The U.S. and Mexico have more important things to be doin that weekend

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  22. It is nice that we are making strides to being an England-type neutral site for international games, what with the Mexico-Venezuela and other Mexico contests, and this Argentina-Brazil game.

    But I do wish this was played on planted grass and not some roll-out travesty put over the astroturf. Argentina handled it fine last trip but it changes the game. We have world class grass stadiums and you wish it was played at one.

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  23. I really hate this system. Brazil (and to a lesser extend Argentina) jet around the world putting a B or C team on the field and cashing their checks rather than playing in front of their own fans in their own countries in a match that could really tell us who’s better.

    Meanwhile, what are we in the US paying to see? You really think Messi and Kaka and Neymar are going to take a major part in this game?

    Same goes for Chelsea, Man U and every other club on their annual Summer Benchwarmers Tour of the United States. It’s hard to shell out the $ when you don’t even know what you’re getting.

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  24. Same thing. I wish the media would identify the stadiums by location and/or some non-sponsor name so the reporting is more informative and less prone to the passage of time. I mean, the stadium in Frisco is already not Pizza Hunt Park anymore — even if it’s an oven still — and the Baltimore Ravens’ home park is on about its 4th or 5th name in 13 years, currently M&T Park. I know naming rights are lucrative and the media has pressure to conform to the team directives but it’s getting to the point where it’s advertising prone to rapid turnover rather than actually a helpful name. I assumed based on the city and state what is being talked about but had to wikipedia it to confirm. That’s silly.

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  25. Money in the BANK!

    Can We get Mexico and the US to play a small tournament there? Group stage style where all teams play each other. I would fly up for the weekend just for that.

    “Torneo de La Americas”

    I like the sound of that.

    Anybody with me?

    Reply

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