Soccer Match Cheers Trapped Chile Miners

33 workers trapped underground in Chile cheer as they watch their national soccer team take to the field. The players wear emblems of support for the miners.

For 90 minutes, they were just another group of men watching the football.

But for these 33 miners in Chile trapped 700 metres underground, it was a rare glimpse of the outside world- a friendly match between Ukraine and Chile in Kiev.

A small projector had been passed down to the miners, and via fiber-optic cables they projected the game onto a wall in the mine.

Above ground, families of the trapped men also watched and supported their national team.

One of the miners, Franklin Lobos, is a former professional footballer who played for several Chilean sides.

Chile lost the match 2-1, and afterwards Lobos discussed the side's performance with rescue workers who had also been watching.

Watching the game was intended to boost morale, and it was likely further boosted when the Chilean players took to the field wearing t shirts like these- translated as "come on miners".

Goalscorer Mauricio Isla said the plight of the miners was at the forefront of the players’ minds.

[Mauricio Isla, Chilean Soccer Player]
"Yes, we thought about it when the situation started when we arrived the first day, we thought to send them a message. It is very difficult for them to be in that situation but we thought about it because we are Chilean, we are playing for our country and the first thing in our minds is our families and the miners.”

The miners were trapped for 17 days at the beginning of August before contact was established with rescue workers, who have since sent food, medicine and letters through narrow plastic tubes.

Chilean officials say it will be months before the men are rescued.