Brazil vs England semi-final moved to Kolkata from Guwahati

The FIFA U-17 World Cup encounter between Brazil and England has been rescheduled from Guwahati’s Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium to Kolkata’s Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan due to pitch concerns. The game will now take place in Kolkata on October 25 at 5 pm.

“England said they didn’t have a problem, but Brazil weren’t willing to play in this pitch. Efforts were made to improve the condition, but the match has now been shifted. The teams will leave Guwahati today (Monday) evening itself,” Assam Football Association president Hemendra Nath Brahma was quoted in a report.

FIFA and Assam government officials held a meeting on Monday afternoon to decide on the possibility of Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium hosting the semifinal on Wednesday. But they left it to the two teams — Brazil and England — to take a call. According to officials, Brazil declined to play on the soggy field, which had taken a beating after the Ghana-mali quarterfinal match on October 21 that was played in rain. Mali had adapted to the conditions but Ghana later lodged a complaint about the field. Ghana coach Paa Kwesi Fabin was not impressed by the ground conditions and in the postmatch press conference, he said: “We’ve not encountered anything like this before. I thought the game should have been abandoned and played at some another time but those who are organising said we have to play so we played.” To make matters worse, the drainage system of the field was clogged leading to water-logging affecting more than 30 percent of the field.