Intro:

In a 'Man versus Beast' contest, Elephants took on a group of schoolboys in a football match in Thailand in celebration of the upcoming World Cup in Brazil.

Script:

When it comes to the World Cup, the controversy over Qatar's successful bid to host the 2022 tournament might be providing the "elephant in the room" - but on Monday Thailand provided some actual elephants.

Due to the excitement over Brazil 2014, a local school decided to take on a team of elephants in a man-versus-beast football face-off.

The team of young students had some home ground advantage and passionate local support, but lacked a certain physical presence against their opponents.

Being more nimble the students were big on attack - but the elephants were big everywhere and many an attempted through-ball cannoned off a forest of thick, muscular legs before going out of play.

They relied on their sheer size to defend their goal - perhaps Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho might now refer to the tactic as "parking the elephant".

Goals had to come though and they did.

At the end of 30 minutes the score stood at 3-3.

Time for a cooling break and a chance to see what the players were feeling...

SOUNDBITE (Thai) Pattapol Waiyakud, football player:

"Fear. I was afraid that the elephants would run over me. I was just afraid."

The match was finally decided on penalties and on this occasion the elephants choked and lost 5-2.