Messi arrived in Kolkata on Wednesday morning to find a crowd of nearly 3,000 fans waving Argentina's flag and wearing the colors of the Albiceleste to welcome him. He was whisked away through a special exit to the hotel, much to the disappointment of the fans, though a select group of government officials and journalists were fortunate enough to get a glimpse of him either at the airport or while entering the hotel.

On Friday, Lionel Messi is expected to show his magic in front of a capacity crowd at the 120,000-seat Yuba Bharati stadium. It is Argentina's first match under the team's new coach Alejandro Sabella, which will ensure the world's attention. For the soccer fans of Kolkata, it is a chance to witness one of the "gods" of the game in action. Kolkata has accorded Pele and Maradona even greater triumphs in the past, but both were already legends by the time they came to the eastern metropolis.

The 24-year-old Messi is captaining his national team against Venezuela, which too is a far cry from an Indian team, adding to the validity of the whole exercise, in the eyes of Kolkatans. They, as much as the rest of their countrymen, are very much aware that India ranks a lowly 158 in the FIFA world standings.

'Before I breathe my last'

India as an emerging economy has long awakened passions in the bosoms of big-league European soccer clubs, including Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal, whereas the popularity of the English Premier League among Indians is a part of the colonial legacy. Germany's Bayern Munich has also looked into India’s market potential. The EPL's 2009/10 season is said to have been watched by some 60 million Indians, a number equaling Britain’s entire population.

Kolkatans are used to staying up nights to watch World Cup and UEFA Champions League fixtures but in the last analysis their heart beats for world soccer. That is why Subrata Dutta, vice president of the All India Football Federation, told Reuters he dreamed of India participating in the World Cup "maybe not in the next five editions but after that and definitely before I breathe my last." Dutta also bemoaned the "shortsightedness" of Indian sponsors in preferring cricket and neglecting soccer when it came to funding.

The supply line

Kashinath Bhattacharya, a sports journalist at the Kolkata daily Aajkaal, sees the root of the evil elsewhere: "None of our clubs have an infrastructure for developing new players. We always make a team by purchasing players."

He told Deutsche Welle that the current tendency to buy foreign players meant that the new crop of Indian footballers was hardly of the quality of Bhaichung Bhutia who recently retired. The Indian soccer team includes players who have been playing for 15 years of more, Bhattacharya added, saying that it needed new players urgently.

"It's the responsibility of club football to set up that supply line, the way it happens in the rest of the world: A club has its own football academy and trains players who gradually come up to the standard. That system is practically non-existent in India."

Author: Arun Chowdhury
Editor: Anne Thomas