URUGUAY striker Diego Forlan was at his skilful best as he netted a fine hat-trick to help the South American Panthers beat the Northern Bears 5-3 in the final of the Legends Cup at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex on Friday night. The eight-team, two-day, six-a-side competition saw a host of former World Cup stars like Iker Casillas, Cafu, Kaka, Roberto Carlos, Francesco Totti, Jens Lehmann, Javier Zanetti, Jurgen Klinsmann, Mikael Silvestre, Marco Materazzi, Wesley Sneijder, among others have a kickabout and there was no shortage of fun despite some intense moments. Like when a female player, unintentionally nutmegged Silvestre and the former French defender re-tackled and won the ball back only to return the favour to the lady at the other end. Italian World Cup-winning defender Materazzi—infamous for his altercation with French legend Zinedine Zidane in the 2006 World Cup final—refused to accept that another female player was successfully tackling him—so he simply pushed her to the ground. Dutch star Sneijder though took the cake when he somehow found space in a small field to lob the ball over six-foot-four former German goalkeeper Lehman for a sweet strike. FIFA president Gianni Infantino also swapped his formal suit for a jersey and shorts, and even scored off a Materazzi pass, though it seemed like the goalkeeper deliberately let one through to make the big boss happy. 

Also Read: FIFA World Cup 2022: Resellers of final tickets on non-FIFA platforms have a field day in Qatar

Poll

Who will win the Punjab Elections?

BJP 32.86%

AAP 41.43%

INC 25.71%

Submit

View All In Poll

Ticket touts tread carefully

THE re-selling of World Cup match tickets without the approval of FIFA is prohibited and punishable with a fine of up to 250,000 Qatari riyals (R55 lakh approximately). However, this still hasn’t deterred ticket touts, but instead only made them more watchful. During the first semi-final between Argentina and Croatia at the Lusail Stadium recently, this correspondent saw one such tout offering tickets in black. The black market rate for a World Cup final match ticket is reportedly anywhere between USD 5000 to USD 10000 (Rs four to eight lakh). A group of Argentina fans, who have flown in specially for Sunday’s final against France, have reportedly written to FIFA to help them procure tickets for the final at official rates.