90 Minutes for Mandela....

On Wednesday, Cape Town hosted a friendly match in honours of Mandela's 89th Birthday. The match took place at Newlands Stadium and it was the African XI vs the World XI. The players that took part in this charity affair where all retired with the exception of Samuel Eto'o who took the honours of captaining the African XI for most of the game.

It was a fun event that saw a sell out stadium as everyone filed into the stadium with the Vuvuzelas creating the atmosphere. Everyone was in good spirits and all 35 000 people where there to celebrate Mandela's birthday and witness a night of great football.

Pele kicked off the match, but he didn't play the game. It was fun to watch as most of the players where rusty, except for the likes of Gullit, Hassan, Leonardo and of course Samuel Eto'o. The latter pulling off some World class displays (now if only Milan could sign him...)

Unfortunately the game didn't end off in the good way it started, as the referee blew the final whistle, fans from the stands ran onto the field to try and meet, most notably, Eto'o. It took the security a while to react, but the players where managed to get ushered off the field and down into the tunnel. Whilst the streakers where escorted off the field.

This has come at the right time for the South African officials to notice what problems may occur in the 2010 World Cup, and they need to act straight away if these problems are to be resolved.

Some photo's I took whilst watching the game. (I was sitting quite far back, so it was difficult to get a good shot)

Just before kick off, Eto'o and Pelle stand next to eachother with the match officials...


Leonardo (bottom of pic) played most of the game for the World XI

The African XI impressed right from the beginning as they scored their first goal.

The World XI started to attack more in the second half as they once again fell a goal behind.

Ex- Milan player Ruud Gullit warms up for coming onto the pitch for the second time.


A free-kick to the World XI.



As the referee blows the final whistle, fans run onto the field to meet the players.

Comments

Popular Posts