Brazil-Germany lock horns in Fifa U-17 W Cup quarters
kolkata — The big-ticket BrazilGermany Fifa U-17 World Cup quarterfinal to be played here on Sunday has sent the football crazy city into a tizzy prompting the Local Organising Committee (LOC) to bill this clash as “one of the most eagerly anticipated matches of the tournament”.
“World Cup semifinal in 2014, Olympic final in 2016...and the buzz in unbelievable. This is one of the most anticipated matches of the tournament,” project director Joy Bhattacharjya said.
While Germany annihilated Brazil 7-1 in the 2014 World Cup in the latter’s lair, the Neymar-inspired Selecao boys returned the favour at the Rio Olympics last year to win gold. Kolkata’s colossal Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan, which has previously played host to Argentine hotshot Lionel Messi, has seen an average attendance of over 40,000 in the games played here. In the round of 16 tie between England and Japan, on a weekday, 53,302 spectators turned up.
“All tickets for Sunday’s game were sold out well in advance,” a LOC official said.
“The buzz has increased expectedly after Brazil were drawn with Germany and we have been getting a number of calls from friends and family and also random people as to how tickets can be obtained. They just don’t want to believe the match is sold out,” the official, not authorised to speak on record, added.
The city is known to be torn between Brazil and Argentina whenever the World Cup is around and even when the two South American arch-rivals cross swords in friendlies or World Cup qualifiers.
In various pockets of the eastern metropolis, flags are unfurled and a war of words ensues among supporters of both camps prior to Brazil-Argentina clashes.
Now with Argentina not making it to the junior World Cup, India’s first Fifa event, it is expected that the Samba boys will feel at home at the Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan on Sunday. —