AT FULL STRETCH: Kaka at the end of a training session in Johannesburg. Brazil plays its first match against North Korea on Tuesday. (AFP)

The duel is between soccer and Celsius in stores dotting town with hours to go for the World Cup 2010 kick-off in Jo’burg.

The sale of small screens has shown a predictable spurt in the run-up to the city’s favourite tournament but the damper has been the sweat factor. So the toss up in many homes this pre-monsoon week is between a new TV and a new AC.

In the Ganguly home at Kasba, for example, the need for cool comfort in the drawing room scored over a bigger and better TV. “My wife and I are both soccer fans and we decided to invest in an AC to watch the matches comfortably,” said techie Sandeep.

With the monsoon playing truant and the city resembling a sauna on Cup eve, electronics stores are juggling demands. “TV sets, especially HD (high definition) ready ones, are doing well but we are still selling more AC machines than we do at this time of the year because of the heat and humidity,” said Gautam Ghosh of Capital Electronics on VIP Road.

Agreed Pulkit Baid of Great Eastern Technocity on Sarat Bose Road. “TV sales are not as big as expected because of the AC factor but the season’s sales of LCD televisions have picked up by 20 to 25 per cent.”

To cash in on the craze for Kaka and the money on Messi, TV brands have been slashing prices and offering freebies — a Jabulani (the Fifa 2010 football) with a Sony LCD, a Brazil or Argentina jersey with an LG set and a DVD player with a Samsung 32 inch LCD.

Some football fans are being swayed by the direct-to-home (DTH) players offering football feed to new subscribers for free.

Sun Direct has made the offer only in Cup-crazy parts like Bengal, Kerala, Goa and the Northeast, Dishtv, has timed the launch of its HD set-top boxes right. “The HD content we will provide through enhanced signals bought from ESPN-STAR Sports will let people enjoy the matches with five times sharper picture quality and theatre-like stereophonic sound,” said Salil Kapoor, the COO of Dishtv India.

Calcuttans can also experience another kind of “near-stadium-feel” — watching the matches on the big screen at City Centre (Salt Lake and Rajarhat) and Axis Mall (Rajarhat).

Restaurants and night clubs around town are also getting into gear as the Cup fever kicks in.