Five games: England have played more games than any other team at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Kirangam stadium. Yet, despite the Three Lions’s rampaging form and aesthetically pleasing style of play, the team seems to forever be on the wrong side of the biggest and most vocal crowd of all the venues.
You would have thought that as the tournament progressed the Kolkata crowd would have warmed up to England’s flamboyance, but it was not to be. This is most bizarre for a neutral venue.
There was no game where the crowd was more hostile to the Britishers than the semifinal against Brazil. Such was the antagonism that the cheers for an England booking were louder than the appreciation of an England goal. And, there were three goals for England on the night.
But, then again, it can be said that the game was more like a home game for the South Americans, with both, players and coach, acknowledging the rapturous support. The Brazil-Germany quarterfinal also had a majority of the 66,000-odd spectators supporting Brazil, but Germany had it better than England.
Whether it be against Iraq, Chile, Mexico or Japan, every team was backed vociferously against the Britishers. It seems a mismatch of sorts that the Bengal crowd got a team they detest to play the most in front of them.
England coach Steven Cooper has joked about this acrimony at nearly every press conference since his team’s first game and continues to remain baffled. “Hopefully we can get them to support us by the way we play,” he said with a snigger before the Brazil game. It didn’t work.
Despite such a setback, he has insisted that even such an atmosphere is a learning experience for his teenage squad. “They need to learn to play in such environments too as they will face much stronger opposition crowds as they grow.”
The only exception was when England’s Phil Foden was substituted in the second half of the semifinal. The attacker has been a revelation this tournament and his exemplary vision in the Brazil game was (perhaps grudgingly) recognised by the crowd. Cooper cheekily said after the game, “It was good to see an applause [for Foden] from 60,000 Brazil fans.” There was a sly grin on his face.
The reason for the hostility can be left to the imagination. A long-standing colonialist grudge is probably the most fanciful explanation one can come up with, but that does not rule out that it could actually be the result of such a mindset.
There is still one more game to go for both the city and the team to suffer each other. And, that will be the most important game so far. Spain may play their first game at the Salt Lake stadium, but will still, in all probability, have the crowd behind them in El Final.
Hail Britannia!
