new delhi for a while everyone forgot that there was a football match to be played at the ambedkar stadium on friday the name on everyones lips was that of brazilian legend pele anxious eyes were glued to the vip section fans were eagerly waiting for his arrival peles presence as the chief guest at the final of subroto cup was enough to fill up the usually empty stadium as the 74yearold legend with a walking stick slowly entered the vip section a loud deafening roar filled the stadium dressed in a blue shirt and trousers a smiling pele waved to thank the fans for the warm welcome from there on pele was treated to a number of gifts mementos and a number of performances from the indian air force and children from different schools first it was the air warrior drill team who mesmerized pele and the audience with their performance so involved was the brazilian in the show that by the end of the performance pele could be seen clapping to the beats of saare jahan se achcha maybe in the last few days or so the king of football who has been in india for almost a week now has developed a special connection with the country next it was time for cultural performances by children belonging to air force bal bharti school and air force golden jubilee institute pele took out his mobile phone and started clicking photos even a minor technical glitch at the beginning did not curb his enthusiasm the indian air force presented pele with a memento a dark blue blazer with the subroto cup logo on it and a huge portrait of the legend there were rumours that delhi dynamos marquee player roberto carlos might show up at the event and fans and mediapersons were looking forward to the reunion of the two brazilians however that wasnt to be it must have been a special moment for the players of manipur and aiff xi as the king made his way to the ground to meet both the teams ahead of the u17 final fans who thronged the stadium in big numbers were in for a special treat as they got a glimpse of their hero as pele was driven around the stadium in a car pele seemed extremely pleased when he reached the section where kids were seated and blew flying kisses to them as the match started pele seemed engrossed in the game and could be seen cheering for both the teams and clapped enthusiastically whenever a goal was scored owing to his frail health pele presented the winners trophy to aiff xi from the vip section itself and happily posed for a photo with the members of the winning squad the whole stadium was eagerly waiting for a word from pele after the end of the game however the fans were in for disappointment as pele left immediately after giving away the prizes with that his hectic trip to india