On Monday, Liu Ziyang and five other teenage footballers from China, stepped onto an international field for the first time in their lives. The boys had come all the way from their home country to compete against a team of Italian teenagers.
"I love football games," said Liu Ziyang, an 11-year-old boy from Guangzhou, China.
"My dream is to join European football clubs as a professional player in the future," he said hopefully.
The game was hosted in the "Kinder+Sport" Area which covers 3,600 square meters at the Expo site. During the warm-up, Chinese footballer "Steel Rose" Sun Wen, along with Italian midfielder "Engine Room" Albertini, gave some tactical advice to their respective teams.
At around 4 p.m. local time (1400 GMT), the young players stepped onto the field in high spirits, looking like a real national team. After the whistle blew, the two teams quickly adapted to the intense pace of the match, switching between attack and defense. Chinese boys moved stealthily while Italian boys guarded with an iron defense. The two teams met their matches, making for a dramatic game.
"Today it has been a precious experience for the kids," commented the "Kinder+Sport" Italian ambassador Albertini after the game. "There is no winner or loser in this game, only the joy of players and the fair-play spirit of sports that the two teams have learned from each other."
Sun Wen, the "Kinder+Sport" Chinese Ambassador, agreed with Albertini. "I'm so glad to have brought these kids, who are so passionate about football, to the Milan Expo. Football brings children from different cultural backgrounds to an equal platform, overcoming any language barrier."
At the end of the match, players from the two countries waved their trophies and medals to the crowd to the sound of cheers and applause.
