Rain plays spoilsport: World Cup semis shifted to Kolkata

GUWAHATI: It was a picture with opposing themes. As Steve Cooper and Carlos Amadeu took photos together at the sidelines, along with their support staff, Local Organising Committee chief Javier Ceppi was busy making animated calls on his cellphone in the middle of the ground.

The England coach and his Brazilian counterpart had already made thorough inspection of the pitch at Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium and come to the decision that the ground was unsuitable for the marquee semifinal of the FIFA U-17 World Cup and intimated the same to the world governing body.

So the city's opportunity to be witness to a sequel to the memorable 2002 senior World Cup tie between the footballing nations here, was lost to Kolkata, which will also host the final of the tournament.

The downpour in the last few days, which had affected the quarterfinal between Mali and Ghana, and forecast of more rainfall in the next two days proved to be too much of a threat for the match to be played here. It made futile all the hard work that had been put into it in the last 48 hours to make the ground suitable for the game. The organisers had even taken the help of a chopper to aid the process.