kolkata a little over a week ago every street in dublin had mick mcarthy and robbie keane written all overunderstandable their team had surpassed all expectations and had reached the second round of the world cup leaving cameroon behindbut this week streets in kalyani sahaganj chinsura and chandannagar all smaller towns around kolkata too bore a similar look only the flags were mostly of brazil and the posters of ronaldo rivaldo and roberto carloswhile the proglobalisation diplomat and social scientist regard this as a success story of their pet phenomenon the harm caused by this success is clearconversations with club members in sahaganj and chinsura were evidence enough that the local youth have lost all hope of making a career in football all but one had an emphatic no to offer when asked whether they continue to watch local football matcheswith the english premier league italian series and the la liga available on satellite television investing in cable makes much more sensewhat are we indians gaining from this world cup it is all very good to shout about asian solidarity and claim that we are all brothers united to celebrate the success of asian footballthis is similar to claiming that vs naipaul or shanta ghosh the german athlete are indians the reality is that the world cup for us indians is ruinous while we celebrate the successes of david beckham miroslav klose and others our football continues to be harmedlocal tournaments have suffered so have tours organised by local promoters while the youth still play football in the afternoons the selfbelief that they can excel is no longer therearguing that nothing much was possible in the absence of infrastructure though no one had a specific clue as to what infrastructure he or she was talking about most agreed without knowing any detail that proper infrastructure explains the sustained success of europeamidst this picture of gloom one cant help but wonder about the successes of senegal and south korea if these nations can why we a nation certainly more advanced than the former and at par with the latter cannot needs to be askedin senegal soccer academic analysis demonstrates is a statesponsored project beating their erstwhile colonial masters france was a fairy tale come true for the senegalese stateby contrast our football federation will at best appoint a foreign coach mediocre to say the least and the state will promptly answer that the aiff is an autonomous body and will not tolerate any interference industrialisation read statesponsored corporatisation of indian football is the only answeryetwe will reinforce our medieval belief that sport is mere leisure and will continue to negate its socioeconomic significancefor an economically stagnant argentina the loss of marcelo bielsas side is as much an emotional trauma as an economic calamityfor a racially disturbed france their surprise exit is bound to raise nightmares of bitter race riotsthe statement of the french ambassador in the united kingdom that the success of france in the 1998 tourney helped her exorcise the