With the crowd at their back, Brazil will feel home when they take on Germany in a mouthwatering FIFA under-17 World Cup quarterfinal clash here on Sunday.
After remaining unbeaten in four matches so far in Kochi, where the Samba Boys were treated like the home team, the South American country can expect more local crowd to throng the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan venue (popularly known as Salt lake stadium) on Sunday to cheer for them.
Brazil defeated all their rivals with utter domination so far - Spain (2-1), North Korea and Niger (2-0 each) in group stages and Honduras (3-0) in round-of-16 - and would like to show a similar command when they face the mighty Germans on Sunday.
Despite their brilliant run so far, Carlos-Amadeu-coached side were often blamed for not scoring enough goals against lesser opponents. Scoring only seven goals against not-so fancied teams, such as North Korea, Honduras and Niger in three matches, raised some few eyebrows.
Nevertheless, the trio of Paulinho (2 goals), lincoln and Brenner (3 goals each) have put the ball in the net when the team needed and have won the heart of the fans with their skills, street-smart trickery and defence-terrorising speed.
The attacking trident is ably supported by Alan Souza in midfield. A diminutive figure Alan is a splitting image of Brazilian national team senior player Coutinho. The Palmeiras footballer brings a lot of option on the deck for coach Amadeu. Apart from his creativity in the middle, Alan is versatile enough to play on the wings and is regarded as a free-kick specialist.
Defence has been largely untested but proved its worth in need when they showed their strength without the ball against Spain in the opening game when the whole unit dropped back in numbers and allowed la Rojita's no space inside the box.
What remains to be seen is their capability to defend against a well-built, fast and physical attacking unit of Germany.
Germany, despite a shaky start in their campaign, are also riding high on confidence after defeating Colombia 4-0 in the pre-quarterfinal in New Delhi. Playing in a 4-2-3-1 with resolute attacking transition - courtesy attacking quartet of striker Jann Fiete Arp, right winger Dennis Jastrzembski, centre attacking midfielder Elias Abouchabaka - are on a free-flowing scoring run since their 0-4 humiliating loss against Iran in their second group match.
Neglected by many as the title challenger, the Christain Wueck-coached side renewed their bid for the trophy, growing from strength to strength after the embarrassing defeat and brushed aside teams like Guinea and Colombia to reach the last-8 stage. In the last two matches, they have scored seven goals.
Brazilian manager is well aware of Germany's attacking variety and is expecting nothing less than a battle on the frontline between both the heavyweights.
"When countries like Germany and Brazil face each other," said Amadeu, before adding, "It's always a treat for fans. Both the teams always have a strong attack and they play to score goals. We as a team have studied them well and prepared for it. I am sure Germans would have done the same."
When hunting for goals, German's main mortar in the cavalry has been Hamburger SV's prodigy Arp. Scoring four goals in four matches, which included a brace in pre-quarterfinal, the poacher would be a handful for the Brazilian centre-back pair to deal with.
But, German coach Wueck has not been satisfied with the number of chances in front of the goal and asked for more precision in converting chances.
"We could have won the last game with a bigger margin than we did," said Wueck. "At this level, these misses can prove costly on a night. So we need to show more quality in scoring."
The German manager can't ignore the fact that they have struggled to play to their full potential in humid conditions of Kochi and Goa. Their best performance came in the pre-quarterfinals against the Colombians in dry conditions of New Delhi.
Bad news for the Germans is that Kolkata is as humid as Kochi or Goa. To make it worse, their South American counterparts have not only adapted to such conditions but also remained undefeated and their squad rotation also played a key part for the Samba Boys.
"Having generations of talented footballers is a common phenomenon for us," Brazilian coach Amadeu said. "So we focused on picking players who are capable of playing multiple positions. And it has helped us a lot here."
The good news for the German side would be the recent change in the weather of city of joy; there's a reduction in temperature and humidity due to back-to-back days of torrential rain.
According to weather reports, the precipitation is expected to pass by Sunday and a rain-free match with a cloud cover is expected on the match-day.
The weather, coupled with crazy football fans of Kolkata, has set the stage for mega international rivalry on Sunday.