International soccer stars played for Asian
tsunami relief Tuesday with a team of non-Europeans led by Brazil's
Ronaldinho beating Andriy Shevchenko's continental crew 6-3.
In a match dubbed "The Game of Hope," 35,000 spectators watched some
sparkling offense despite near freezing temperatures and a polar wind.
Cameroon's Samuel Eto'o, the African player of the year, led the way with
two goals.
From the starting whistle, Ronaldinho, Eto'o and their teammates
produced some dazzling play with heel
flicks, dummy dribbles and goals galore.
The other side included Shevchenko, a Ukranian voted European player of
the year, David Beckham and Zinedine Zidane.
"It's the first time in my 30 years with FIFA that there's been
such an assembly of players of this stature," said president Sepp Blatter.
"This is football, and it's football for the future."
FIFA hopes to gather some $10 million for the tsunami victims, with a
third coming from Tuesday's match.
The proceeds were to go to the Tsunami Solidarity Fund set up by FIFA
and the Asian Football Confederation to help rebuild Asian soccer after
the tsunami tragedy of Dec 26 that caused 300,000 deaths.
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-02-16 10:51
