This year’s Soccer Aid has already proven to be living up to everyone’s expectations with the charity match underway at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge ground.
England, who are winless in the last five years of Soccer Aid, found an early goal through Joe Cole as his volley found its way through the legs of his former teammate Petr Cech and into the bottom corner to give the Three Lions the lead.
However, what kind of return to Stamford Bridge for Chelsea legend Eden Hazard would it be if he didn’t find the back of the net and he did it in style – a lovely floated free kick over the wall from 25 yards out just beating the outstretched glove of David James and nestling into the side netting.
Alessandro Del Piero then made it 2-1 to World XI as he latched onto Usain Bolt’s cross to fire it past James before Jack Wilshere’s brilliant ball roll set Cech on the ground before a great pass across the face of goal found the clinical Ellen White who levelled the contest just before the break.
However, just before halftime, boxer Tommy Fury replaced comedian Maisie Adam and immediately went to work on the right-hand-side, getting into scuffles with British athletics legend Sir Mo Farah and England cricket icon Stuart Broad.
After a funny miskick which saw him go to kick the ball with his right foot but actually hit it with his left, the World XI managed to secure a throw-in after the miskick bounced off of Broad. Running to the touchline, Fury picked up the ball and rolled it out onto the pitch instead of your typical throw-in motion, leading to referee Rebecca Welch to immediately blow the whistle and tell the World XI players to retake the throw-in.
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The cameras quickly cut to former Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino and ex-Tottenham striker Robbie Keane who are both coaches for the World XI team who were spotted howling with laughter on the bench, with the Republic of Ireland international putting his hands over his face while Pochettino leaned over him with tears in his eyes.