KOLKATA: The stage was set, the Brazil–Argentina fanatics were out, but the scene at Kolkata on Sunday was nothing short of a carnival when the city celebrated the David vs Goliath clash in homes, malls, restobars, clubs and street corners as France won the cup but Croatia won hearts.At Calcutta Rowing Club , the members coined an event ‘Beer and Cheer’ where members and guests converged in front of the giant screen from as early as 7pm to enjoy the prematch ceremony and the match with good food and liquor. “Although a majority of members were rooting for France, Croatia was my personal favourite. We had a great match and a great evening with friends and family,” said club secretary Chandan Roy Chowdhury as the group erupted in joy when Croatia scored the equaliser in the 28th minute. The joy, however, didn’t last long as France were back with another goal from a penalty shoot out and by the 65th minute, they were leading by four goals to one.Few kilometres away, a group of Jadavpur University students had an event of their own as they set up a projector outside the Worldview bookstore area. The turnout was little slow to begin with, but as the game started getting interesting, hundreds of students began gathering at the spot, mostly to cheer and root for Croatia. “Modric and Raketic are the new superheroes of this World Cup and although most of us are little upset with the big names like Brazil, Argentina and Germany crashing out, Croatia indeed deserved the limelight they got,” said MPhil student Syamantakshobhan Basu, one of the event organisers.Several joined in the festivities at pubs, bars, restaurants and malls, catching the excitement of the match live with friends while enjoying drinks and snacks. “We planned a friend’s get together revolving around the match and were at Whats Up Café in southern Avenue since evening. We stayed back for the entire match and a had a great time,” said Subhasis Saha.Those who couldn’t make it outside, enjoyed the match at home. Taranga Datta, a student of IIM Joka, had come home to his Survey Park house only to watch the final with his father and the rest of the family. “We had bought a new giant 70-inch screen before the World Cup and the final match was worth every bit of it. It was a complete see-saw battle between the two teams who had little to differentiate between them when it came to on-field performance,” said Datta, adding that the match was followed by a sumptuous dinner of biryani and mutton chap.Arindam Paul, the area manager of a pharma company, was one of the few football fans who had switched loyalties to Croatia after his favourite team Germany went out.“I had an important meeting, but postponed it to ensure there was no interference during the final match. Croatia played with everything they had and it was indeed worthy of a final match of the World Cup,” said Paul, a resident of New Alipore.

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