thats the exact game every kolkatan wishes to watch said dhurba chakraborty who has attended all the games so far the younger crowd have grown up on a steady diet of the english premier league and most of the playing xi of the young lions were known by name to them the last round of group matches at the salt lake stadium brought together several such expats who cheered applauded and enjoyed the game with over 44000 people in attendance everyone believed this was just the beginning of the celebrations it feels just like home said a beaming kwasi a little ahead mark kearney waited outside gate 3a for his two friends who were parking their car at the ib block kids as young as five years have painted the japanese flag on their cheeks i am keeping my fingers crossed to watch a european top team take on a latin american side i came to watch the future english stars in action said rudra majumdar a software professional i am desperately seeking a ticket for the finals he said kolkata soumi chowdhury and her mother had travelled from botanic garden to watch the matches unlike the first two days the stadium witnessed several thousands making way to the stadium wellpast 7 pm for the second match he has already got a ticket for the quarterfinal eisiye kwaski a japanese national and a selfconfessed football freak has been staying in new town for the past several months after relocating here for a job i am happy the city is supporting us so much he said but he started to feel at home only on saturday when he was on his way to the salt lake stadium to catch the japannew caledonia match initially you could even hear middleaged spectators saying they would be happy if england lose to iraq people kept streaming in all through the first match said a cop in charge of stadium security i am a big chelsea fan this bunch of youngsters have mostly stayed away from football in kolkata but the world cup has finally given them a chance to watch future stars in action the knockout rounds will see a full stadium with inputs from simanti bose i keep track of the epl and this being a saturday my father volunteered to stay at home said soumi hundreds of women some of whom set foot on a football ground for the first time made their presence felt on the stands england can be the group champion today we are supporting japan in the first match and england in the second while england was clearly the local favourite iraq did have its fans on the stands