When coach is Zico and city is Kolkata, who cares about Japan

The Zico-mania prompted Gus Fielding, sports writer with the Japanese news agency Kyodo, to ask, ‘‘Don’t you guys want to cover the Japanese team?’’

Sorry, but in Kolkata the Japanese don’t stand a chance; when it comes to football — and at the moment nothing else matters — the city is sworn to support anything Brazilian.

It’s an old love affair, which originated back in 1977 when Pele — the greatest of them all — came with the New York Cosmos club to play an exhibition match against Mohun Bagan. More than his footballing skills, Pele’s humility, humour and sporting spirit that day wowed the city, and they’ve remained hooked.

The city’s two major clubs now depend heavily on their Brazilian imports — Douglas with East Bengal, Eduardo with Bagan. Ironically, both players are at the head of the line to meet Zico at the dinner tonight.

Why Zico? Well, he was part of the 1982 team — along with Socrates, Falcao and Eder — that many regard as the last truly great Brazilian team. ‘‘He’s been our idol, a hero for all Brazilian boys who want to take soccer as a profession’’, said Douglas.

And a hero to all Kolkata journalists, who, having badgered the Japanese officials the whole day for interviews, were almost awe-struck when Zico finally took the floor on Tuesday evening.

No matter that there was a vital match on the morrow; the questions dealt almost entirely with Zico’s playing days (and gave the journalists a chance to show off their encyclopaedic knowledge of football trivia).

Do you regret missing the penalty against France in 1986? (Answer: I don’t regret missing, everyone has his or her bad moment.)

Do you still have a grudge against the Israeli referee who denied you a penalty in 1982 and sent Brazil out of the World Cup? With a smile, he replied: That’s a thing of the past, it happens if humans are there.

And if he had any hearts left to win over, he did it with the next answer. Asked about the 120,000-seater Salt Lake Stadium, venue of tomorrow’s match, he said: ‘‘It reminds me of the Maracana Stadium (the largest in the world, the spiritual home of football) back home. The support I got back home was huge every time I took the pitch. The emptiness here worries…I hope on Wednesday it will be full, so that the memories are total.’’

For his hosts, the memories are already ‘‘total’’.