Kolkata

Germany is at third place on the FIFA football world-ranking list. Presently, India (tied with Pakistan) holds place 158. The Bundesliga is considered Europe’s third best league. The I-League yearns for international recognition, at least in Asia. How great are the differences really?

The kickoff at Salt Lake City Stadium is on Saturday afternoon at two, Gopal Ghosh, the manager of East Bengal Kolkata, presently second in the I-League, told me. They will be playing against Hindustan Aero, ranked last.

I arrive before noon. Some guys who are currently battling for medals in the college championships for track and field even guide me into the interior.

At 1:08, the home team enters the pitch. Coach James Morgan, an old warhorse from England who once coached the young talent from Hull City among others, himself carries the cones for the warm up onto the pitch, and positions them. This is something one could hardly imagine for Jupp Heynckes and his colleagues. Only the tug of war provides some spirit. If this were the Bundesliga, the huge ballyhoo would have begun long ago, but East Bengal can warm up in near seclusion, the only excitement comes from the finale in the tug-of-war among the college students.

When it finally begins, the largest stadium in all of Asia is practically empty. 120,000 spectators fit inside it (but only if we disregard the German Football Federation security regulations), the day before Gopal Ghosh anticipated about 20,000 when he spoke with me, in reality perhaps a tenth of that number (calculated generously) are here, although the tickets cost only between 40 and 120 rupees (0.60 and 1.80 euros). Already today everyone is talking about the big derby against Mohan Bagan. The world’s eighth oldest, as Sagnik Mazumder, an employee of East Bengal who today, however, is the team assistant of Bangalore because they did not bring one, tells me proudly.

The loyal fans are already cheering, though, as the two teams enter the pitch. East Bengal is wearing gold and red jerseys and black shorts (so practically the German colours), while Bangalore is all in green. Plenty of police offers make themselves comfortable in the interior; they certainly won’t have much to do for security today. Bangalore is two and a half hours from Kolkata by air; no fans will be coming along.

Before the kickoff, Hindustan Aero dawdles for an eternity and simply will not release the circle they’ve formed to buck up each other’s courage with lowered heads. In the Bundesliga they would have had a ruckus with Sky because such shenanigans would delay the kickoff by at least two minutes. Here, too, there is ranting and raving from the stands, but referee Dipak Singh (like his assistants from New Delhi) just watches placidly.

I am seated in the air-conditioned press box, separated from the fans by metre-high glass panes. Too bad; this way I only perceive the fans’ emotions muffled through a filter.

But, there isn’t much to cheer about or root for. The match trickles along and I ask myself how a match between the SSV Reutlingen or another upper league team against East Bengal would look. When I tell my colleagues behind me that I really cannot tell which of these teams is fighting for the championship and which is as good as relegated and which team has collected ten times as many points as the other in 15 matches (actually 30), laughter fills the room. My colleagues like it and suddenly I am the football expert from Germany.

The shoptalk makes the break pass quickly, but not the dread on the pitch. In the 50th minute, James Morgan becomes exasperated, he takes Khan Thang Paite out and replaces him with Sushanth Mathew. The only player who causes a stir is the Bangalore forward Jagaba Hamza Amaba, who falls to the ground as if hit by lightning, but then neither wants to get up nor lie on the stretcher. When he is finally towed over the sideline, the African player experiences a true miracle healing (it will not be the last today). This completely enrages the East Bengal fans.

Finally, they are redeemed in the 65th minute. In the first well-considered attack by East Bengal, a fine cross from the right passes over goalkeeper Pramod and Saumik Dey easily hits the ball in with a header. Shortly thereafter Morgan replaces his otherwise best man, the Australian with the typically Australian name Tolgay Özbey, with the Brazilian Edmilson, who he’s left to stew on the bench throughout the match. And he then decides the match with a fine pass. The Nigerian player Orji Penn Ikechukwu only needs to push the ball in.

The Indian kickers are simply not strong enough

At the press conference, Morgan does not beat about the bush for long in his gnarly British manner: the match was awful, he admits. They want to win the derby, he says, “But sometimes expectations and results are two different things.”

While he harvests resounding laughter, Kusak Chakrabarti, a veteran among Kolkata’s sport journalists, mourns the good old days of Indian football. They were Asian champions in 1951 and as recently as 2003 East Bengal won the Asean Cup. He blames it on the food. The Indian kickers are simply not strong enough, he complains, “the street kickers from the slums have nothing to eat. And the wealthy prefer to play cricket.”

Morgan also tells the guest from Swabia that his boys simply would not have enough power and stamina to stand up to a German pro team. But they might have a chance in the fourth league. Whether he who will soon join him can ensure more power? Fabio Cannavaro, world champion from Italy, has announced his move from Al Ahli in Dubai to Kolkata next month. Well, then, we shall see!