England captain David Beckham came face to face with living legend Nelson Mandela today.
The England team are in South Africa ahead of their friendly match with the national team Bafana Bafana in Durban tomorrow.
Members of both teams met the former South African president. Seated next to Mr Mandela, a smiling Beckham said: "It's great to be here today. It's an amazing honour for all of us."
Mr Mandela tried to remain impartial as he replied: "In the interest of sport, I hope the best team will win."
Leeds United's Lucas Radebe is expected to captain the South African team for tomorrow night's clash.
England are not expecting an easy victory, Beckham said last night.
"Playing away is always difficult and I know that we will meet a tough team so we are not expecting to have an easy night," he said.
The Manchester United midfielder said he fully supported South Africa's bid to host the 2010 World Cup.
"It would be simply amazing to have a World Cup played in such a great country as South Africa. I fully back the South African bid."
And he congratulated Radebe on winning his 70th cap for his country.
"I have a deep respect for Lucas and he deserves the ovation that he will receive from the fans on Thursday when he leads out South Africa."
He said meeting Mandela was not the only reason he came to South Africa.
"I am suspended for our next Euro 2004 qualifier against Slovakia but after a talk with the FA and manager (Sven-Goran Eriksson), I felt it was important that as captain come here and play. This is a very big game for both countries and I expect it will be a good game."
Eriksson said he also expected a difficult 90 minutes. "Every game is important and we want to do well," he said.