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FIFA World Cup 2018: When football breaks the barriers of vision!

No wonder they did not miss out on the amazing match at Kazan, which kept Colombia's hopes of reaching the last-16 stage alive.

The Colombia vs Poland match had a sub plot to it

Kazan, June 27: As Radamel Falcao scored his first FIFA World Cup goal and Colombia revived their hopes of reaching the knockout phase with an emphatic 3-0 victory over Poland, an incredible video footage produced by Sky News has emerged of a Colombia fan helping his blind, deaf friend experience his country's win over Poland.

Poland 0-3 Colombia - 5 things review

Jose Richard Gallego, an avid football fan lost his hearing and vision to a disease at the age of nine but his passion and undying enthusiasm for the 'beautiful game', as FIFA calls it, had not diminished a bit.

Fortunately, his friend Cesar Daza was on hand to walk him through the game using a special series of gestures in a Bogota bar.

Gallego says: "I still remember before I lost my sight, I often watched the matches between Santa Fe and Millonarios on TV.

"I've liked Millonarios since then."

Gallego met Daza three years ago and the duo bonded over their love of football.

In the video produced by Sky News, which has gone viral on social media, Gallego's friend Daza is seen devising a miniature pitch with a set of hand signals which meant that they could both enjoy games on television in real time.

The real-time game on the scaled-down football pitch helped both get hooked to the full 90 minutes of real action happening at Kazan Arena. There are separate gestures for penalties, throw-ins, yellow cards, red cards, penalties and free-kicks.

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Daza learned sign language and created a unique set of hand gestures in order to communicate a football match in real time.

He explained: "We've reached a common understanding.

"This means out of bounds. This refers to a corner kick. This means sideline judge. This sign means a penalty kick.

"If the ball is thrown-in, this is the signal. This gesture means someone got a red card or yellow card," Daza dwelled further.

Thanks to that, they did not miss out on the amazing match at Kazan, which kept Colombia's hopes of reaching the last-16 stage alive.

And when a goal was scored, the Bogota bar erupted with joy as their friends joined them in the celebrations.

It just goes to show that football has no barriers of vision.

No wonder football is called the beautiful game, isn't it?

(With Agency/Sky News inputs)

Story first published: Wednesday, June 27, 2018, 19:45 [IST]
Other articles published on Jun 27, 2018
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