“ Meri beti ko lekar match dekhne jaaunga (I’ll take my daughter to go watch the match),” says a fan queueing up at the ticket counter as he face-times his daughter all the while.
The FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup will see India’s young girls playing in a World Cup for the first time and tickets for matches are already in very high demand.
Three cities – Bhubaneswar (Odisha), Navi Mumbai (Maharashtra) and Margao (Goa) – will host the tournament, while all of India’s group stage fixtures will be played in Odisha.
The young Tigresses will play the United States on October 11, Morocco on October 14 and Brazil on October 17.
On arriving in Bhubaneswar, the archetype of a football carnival does not radiate off the city right away.
Fan face-timing daughter on the ticket counter queue.
But as one approaches the Kalinga Stadium – the location for all matches of the World Cup here – banners and signages come into sight, for what would be just the second FIFA tournament to ever happen in the country.
‘#KickOffTheDream’ posters and banners welcome fans into the stadium, with the seats coloured in accordance with the theme of the World Cup – blue and red.
Football is enjoyed best in the rain.
Bhubaneswar frames that statement and realises it every day as the match approaches, with light showers to the relief of players, not accustomed to Odisha’s searing heat and cloying humidity, ensuring a perfect setting for a good football match.
A look at the ticketing centres would easily misguide a tourist, but on asking for the first matchday’s tickets, ‘Sold out’ is the blatant response.
There were provisions for special tickets – a cumulative one for all three India matches – priced at Rs. 240 and Rs. 480. They, too, are sold out. The queueing is almost done; the tickets, almost over.
The ones that remain are priced at Rs. 90 and Rs. 180 for matches on the second and third days.
Vinod Swahin, one of the few desperate for tickets, finally managed to get one, but for the second matchday’s encounter between Brazil and the United States.
Vinod Swahin with the tickets of the Brazil vs USA match
“Odisha has produced India captains like Sasmita Mallik. I was looking forward to watching the next generation. But it is okay, I can watch Brazil. Their football is different, but always fun to watch,” he says.
In the stadium, the last-minute preparations are in full swing, with the tunnel almost ready for players and staff. The referees are testing the pitch while amateur players try sample matches on the ground.
Carpets are being laid over patches of water to contain the effect of rain while cameraman set up their equipment on the stands for the son et lumière, starting Tuesday.
But away from the noise in separate training grounds, four teams are busy perfecting the minutiae of gameplay, the passes, the crosses and the spot-kicks.
Thomas Dennerby during a practice session before the World Cup
“Forward runs!” and “Get behind the ball,” yells India coach Thomas Dennerby at the Police Battalion ground – one of the four fields set aside for training, as India gets ready for its opener.
When the World Cup kicks off tomorrow, the father at the ticketing office, the coaches at the dugout and the organisers will have put on a smile as girls make runs in football, spurring ahead and getting goals – both in reality and metaphorically.
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