Argentina captain and Barcelona Super star Leonel Messi reached in the Football Capital of India-Kolkata today in the early Mornning. At 12 noon Argentina National Football team press Conference held at Hotel Hyaat Regency, Salt Lake Kolkata.

Only Team Coach Sabella came in the Conference. Messi was absent in the press meet as he is tired very much for a long journey from Spain to Kolkata. Messi will present in a closed door practice session with the team in the evening . Venezuela Team's press conference will be held at 2.00 PM today.

MESSI LAST MATCH : 30.08 : FC Barcelona 5 - 0 Villarreal

BAR: Thiago 25', Fabregas 44', Alexis 47', Messi 51', 74'

MESSI NEXT MATCH : 02.09 : Argentinaa VS Venezuela

Kolkata belongs to such cities of the world, which have proud privilege to make a long tradition of inviting foreign teams and hosting many memorable football matches. Memories are in galore. On September 24, 1977 at the Eden, Kolkata, King Pele and Carlos Alberto replayed the same, 4th one, fantastic goal scored through their combination against Italy in the 1970 World Cup Final.

Before and after King Pele, Kolkata football lovers have witnessed many great stars from Prince of Football Diego Maradona, Eusebio, Gerd Muller to Karl Heinz Rimenige, Roger Milla, Oliver Kahn, Diego Forlan, Enzo Francescoli, Valencio Ramos, Rinat Dassaaiyev, Oleg Blokhin, Lazlo Kiss, Jorge Buruchaga and so on, but the glimpse of replayed goal of the 1970 World Cup Final has etched forever in the mind of Kolkatans.

However, we must keep in mind that, Maradona, Eusebio, Gerd Muller, Karl Heinz Rimenige and Forlan were not part of any match. Kolkata is now all set to host the first ever FIFA international friendly in India between Argentina and Venezuela, in which match nothing but only anticipated 'Messi Magic' from the Messiah of the present world football will be reckoned. Just to have a glimpse of Maradona, Kolkata went frenzy, then what would happen to see Messi in action?

Kolkatans are grateful to Nehru Gold Cup for giving the first real taste of international flavour of world football. If we go through the history of Kolkata football, we will found foreign teams are coming here to show their mettle since 1921-22, when Mohun Bagan invited a South African cricket team to play here some cricket matches. But the South African team intended to play some football matches also, though they failed to impress in any of the four matches.

Much before the visit of South African team, a British outfit the Royal Engineers' came here from London in 1860. The Royal Engineers' can not really be considered as foreign team in the British India, as Kolkata football grown up during British era when British teams were dominating the Maidan. Mohun Bagan created history by winning IFA Shield in 1911 as a first native team beating as many as five British teams, all British teams were very much part of British India.

In this context, we can not consider the Rangoon Customs from Burma (present Myanmar), who played in the 1929 IFA Shield, as foreign team as Burma was then part of India. To be precise, the first noteworthy team that came to Kolkata in 1936 was China Olympic team. The Kolkatans were so impressed by the performance of the Chinese team, that ticket of only 6 annas (then 16 annas made a rupee) was sold at black market for more than Rs. 40/-.

If we consider the market prices of that time, it really sounds unbelievable. Because, then 2 mounds (around 75 kgs) of rice could be accessible only at Rs. 4/-. Following year after the independence another Chinese Olympic team visited Kolkata for a four match series and they ware outplayed by East Bengal. For the first time a foreign team lost to any Indian outfit.

TV was introduced in Kolkata in 1975 and Kolkatans started enjoying live world cup matches since 1978. After introduction of TV in Kolkata, not a single outstanding international match was missed by football lovers of the city. Even name of the players of the least performed Venezuela are not unfamiliar to the Kolkatans, as they have seen the performance of the Latin American teams in the recently concluded Copa America.

However, before introduction of TV in Kolkata, many renowned teams, like Tatabania of Hungary, Moscow Locomotive of former Soviet Union, Helsingberg of Sweden and VFB of Germany captivated Kolkatans with their superlative performance. Still many considered Hungarian team Tatabania was cut above the rest. Thereafter, people still remember Crock Town of USA with two outstanding world cuppers Pele and Alberto Carlos. Inception of "Super Soccer" by Tata Steel allowed us to see very good teams like Bochum Football Club of Germany, Sao Paulo of Brazil and PSV Eindhoven of Netherlands.

In the inception year of Nehru Gold Cup in 1982, national team of Argentina came here with the great coach Dr. Carlos Bilardo, under whose guidance Diego Maradona & Co. won World Cup in 1986, with as many as six world cuppers. In a memorable match, India had a gallant fight against the mighty opponent just to loose by a solitary goal. This time we, the Indians along with our national players, have to cheer for Messi's Argentina against Copa America's semi-finalist Venezuela. Forget the standard of your game, Messi is going to enliven you!

East Bengal dicided to participate in the Vietnam International invitational International football Tournament namely Binh Duong Television Cup ( BTV Cup) in coming October after ending of Fed Cup and starting of I-League.

East Bengal is the defending champions of Federationa Cup and Runner's up of Last year I-League. Probably East Bengal will not participate in 124th Durand Cup this year for this International exposure before I-League. This year it will be the 11th edition of BTV cup. The champion may receive the cup and Dollar 20,000. The second and the third teams will take Dollar 10,000 and Dollar 5000. Last year Dong Tam Long of Vietnam beat Brazil's Duque de Caxias 2-1 to lift the title.

The Vietnam Tournament may be held on 2-15th October where Matshubara FC from Brazil, Express FC of Uganda, Chonburi from Thailand home teams Dong Tam Long, Da Nang, Binh Duong, Navibank SG probably be the participants. The tournament will be held at Go Dau Stadium which is the home stadium of of Vietnamese football club three times BTV Cup winner Binh Duong ( Nick name Chelsea vietnam).

In 2003, East Bengal became the first Indian club to win a continental competition LG Asean Cup held at Jakarta beating BEC Tero Sasana of Thailand in the final with help of Baichung Bhutia, Deepak Mondol, Sandeep Nandy, Douglas, Debjit ghosh, Bijen singh, Alvito D counha, Tulunga etc under coaching of Subhash Bhowmick.

Argentina Coach Sabella Ajexjandro

That Sunil Chhetri is an "Arjuna" on the field, we all knew right from Day One. The recognition, however, came on Monday, August 29, 2011. Immediately after receiving the Award from the President - Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, Sunil spoke to www.the-aiff.com on what it meant to him. Excerpts:

Whom do you dedicate his award to?

It has to be dedicated to my family. Other than their support all this wouldn't have been possible. Over the years, all my coaches and my teammates have contributed a lot to shape my career. I can never forget their contribution and help. But this Award is solely dedicated to my family.

What was the feeling like when your name was announced?

I can't explain that. From the time I landed at the Rashtrapati Bhawan, I was joking with the other Awardees to ease off the tension. But when my name was announced, I just froze. The entire atmosphere got to me. Receiving an Award could be so tough - I understood the hard way. And as I come from an Army background, receiving it from the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces makes it all the more Special.

When you first travelled to Kolkata to play for Mohun Bagan did you ever believe you will go this far?

It's hard for a player to plan for the future, especially in a game like football. Obviously, at that stage I never even thought of an Award at any stage, leave aside the Arjuna Award. I just wanted to keep playing. But it feels good when you are rewarded - you feel Special; and this indeed is a Special Moment for me.

What next for Sunil Chhetri?

This is the beginning of a new journey for me. The Award comes with more responsibility and I cannot let others down. I need to punch myself and go that extra mile. It's an inspiration to do better as I am now in the same League with so many legends - not only from football but from various disciplines of sports.