It’s a cloudy day, here in Kolkata, as the city eagerly looks forward to its first set of FIFA matches on Sunday. A man I meet at the hotel lobby tells me he and his friends hope the weather does not spoil their big day.
The days leading up to the World Cup in this city have been a difficult one for the media. The overly heightened security and the lack of coordination between FIFA’s media channel and the local organising committee (LOC) has resulted in numerous media-related scuffles.
Unlike other cities the locals here don’t get to watch the teams practise. Now, that’s a cardinal sin in a city referred to as the ‘Mecca’ of Indian football. The local law enforcement officers seem to be taking no chances.
So, as we’re busy arguing with local organisers, I can’t help but wonder whether such confusion that stemmed from miscommunication and poor local coordination could affect the tournament here.
After the confusion in New Delhi, during the opening games, over the lack of drinking water for spectators, we’re hoping there aren’t any further complications at the massive Salt Lake Stadium, when over 66,000 spectators show up.
Should security measures really intrude on the fun factor of witnessing an event like this?
A couple of days ago, when Chile’s media manager invited mediapersons to enter the field, the police denied them access. The media manager was baffled.
The upside of one misunderstanding ended with me getting acquainted with a Chilean journalist, Eugenio Salinas Canepa.
Canepa was appalled by the mismanagement on the part of the LOC, and said he’d never seen anything like this before. As we continued talking, I realised that this man is a veteran football journo in the truest sense.
Chilean journalist Eugenio Salinas Canepa | Salil Bera
Canepa has covered every senior and junior World Cup since 1998. He works for a radio station in Chile, writes for ESPN and has his own media channel—K Sports, it’s called. He is now based in Munich, covering the Bundesliga, the Champions League and other European competitions.
We discuss European football at length and he professes his love for one player--Arturo Vidal. So great is his admiration for the tireless box-to-box Chilean that he considers him the best Chilean player of all time, even over the likes of the legendary Marcelo Salas and Ivan Zamorano. “I just don’t understand how he is so good!” he tells me.
Interestingly, Canepa has been at several iconic football moments, barring just the World Cups. He was there at the Bernabeu when Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka and Karim Benzema were together presented to the Real Madrid crowd for the very first time in 2009, in front of 80,000 fans.
He was also there at the Copa America Centenario final in New York last year, when Chile beat Argentina on penalties. Canepa was five metres behind the goal when Lionel Messi stepped up to send a penalty way over the bar. It was the lowest point in the Argentine’s life, and one of the highest points for this ecstatic Chilean journo.
He explains the recent most shocking news in European football—the sacking of Carlo Ancelotti from Bayern Munich, barely weeks into the new season had left football pundits baffled, but Canepa knows what happened.
“The players revolted,” he tells me. “There were five players, including Arjen Robben and Frank Ribery, who opposed the Italian’s leadership and could not stand his tactics. He lost their respect.”
Things are changing in Bavaria. Vidal, for instance, has hinted to Canepa that he will soon move to Inter Milan, as the Italian culture is “more Latin” that the strict German lifestyle.
I ask him why he chose to come to an U-17 World Cup when he could instead be covering Champions League football. Note that most countries which have a regular senior World Cup team are not too interested in following junior tournaments.
He tells me that the people in Chile have realised that a golden generation of Chilean footballers is waning and they are really interested to know what lies ahead. Yet another reason for this young Chile team to show their country that they can carry forward the rich legacy.
Kolkata’s first match here is gonna be a cracker. England and Chile are two massive footballing nations and, just like the Calcuttans, I can’t wait to see them take on each other tomorrow.
Now for me to dig into that sumptuous chicken chowmein, ahead of a string of press conferences.
