Ronaldo Plays Twenty Minutes for Charity; Zidane Goes an Hour

By: Laurie | November 18th, 2008

Watching charity matches is always a little surreal. Part footy match, part spectacle, part day trip away from the retirement home.

I don’t think I’ve seen any game that captured this surreality more than yesterday’s charity match between “Friends of Zidane” and “Friends of Ronaldo” (the Brazilian one, not the pretty one) to benefit the UN Development Fund Against Poverty.

To start with, the event was held in Morocco — not a wealthy country — and there were hundreds of empty seats, even while people waited outside because they couldn’t afford tickets. No irony here.

Ronaldo is still not-so-fit after last year’s knee surgery; he looked like a heart attack waiting to happen, and he played only about twenty minutes. Even so, it was good to see him back on the pitch for a good cause.

He was replaced by Brazil’s female dynamo, Marta, who zipped around the field in an oversized men’s shirt, looking like a hummingbird among hawks (with the occasional appearance by an eagle or pelican.) And toward the end of the game, Spanish singer and non-pro-player David Bustamante took the field, and he even got off a not-half-bad shot at one point.

Over on the other side, Zidane’s still got the moves if not quite the speed, and there’s still a roar from the crowd every time he touches the ball. This roar turned into an explosion when he scored the third goal, a sweet, sharp-angled far-post shot just out of the reach of the goalkeeper. (Video of game highlights at the bottom.) He played for just over sixty minutes before being whisked off the field and down the tunnel, surrounded by a huge crush of media who all apparently lost interest in the game after he and Ronaldo left the field.

The pace for the whole game was slow and leisurely, and I think I counted a grand total of one slide tackle. The first-half goalkeepers seem to have gotten the memo that this was to be a high-scoring match, and everybody else had probably figured this out by the fourth minute, when the scoreline was already 1-1. Second-half sub Dida of Ronaldo’s Friends was a little less accommodating, though, and he actually stopped several shots. (How unsporting.) Friends of Ronaldo took the game, 6-5.

And a good time was had by all.

Probably even by the kids waiting outside the stadium for a glimpse of their heroes because they couldn’t afford the tickets.

Game Highlights: