Messi in kolkata

Although almost every man,woman and child in Kolkata wanted to get a glimpse of Lionel Messi and the rest of the Argentine squad

On the outside,looking in

Although almost every man,woman and child in Kolkata wanted to get a glimpse of Lionel Messi and the rest of the Argentine squad,the euphoria outside the stadium didnt quite reflect inside the Yuba Bharati Krirangan (YBK). Although reports claimed that the 110,000 capacity arena was sold out,the first half witnessed just about 65,000 spectators a shade more than half. Fans thronged the streets outside the complex as early as five hours before kick-off,making large queues outside the gates,but excessive security ensured that many,if not most,missed the first half. I have a Rs 2,500 ticket,but Ive already missed the first 30 minutes, said 28-year-old Aritro Mukherjee,who had a 2km long queue ahead.

The price of a Messi jersey

Move over vendors selling tri-colour on the eve of Indias cricket matches,the footballing variety have taken over. On the streets of Salt Lake,and within the peripheries of the stadium,Argentina jerseys sold like hot cakes. Priced at a reasonable Rs 100 well outside the stadium,and Rs 300 inside,the Argentina fans outnumbered the Venezuela maroon by a massive margin. Despite being priced at Rs 400,Messis number 10 jersey did the most business,while the Rs 50 Venezuela tee-shirts remained untouched. Even before the match,it was Argentina 1,Venezuela 0.

Rat-a-trap trap

The West Bengal State Electricity Board substation had a most unusual demand on Friday that of rat traps. After a World Cup qualifier between India and Japan in 2004 was upheld by a 30-minute powercut,the official reason for the blackout was pinned down to a rat,or rats snapping the electricity cable. So on the day of the Argentina-Venezuela match,the organisers hired nine portable gen-sets and a few dozen rat traps. With the stadiums floodlights in full glow,the rat hunt seemed to have worked.

Match over,powercut on

The match may have gone off smoothly,but YBK and powercuts are long-time accomplices. While the rats stayed away and the electricity stayed constant as per plan,load shedding immediately at the end of the match caused the press conferences to be abandoned half way through. During this now familiar occurrence at the YBK,and as the conference turned to complete darkness during Venezuela coach Cesar Fariass turn,the media interactions came to an abrupt end. Farias got up,waved goodbye,and left to join his teammates,all in one go.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram

Tags:
Lionel Messi