Home Runs & Horan: Niall Horan & Louis Tomlinson Participate in Soccer Aid 2016

Last Sunday, One Direction bandmates, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson took part in Soccer Aid 2016. Soccer Aid is a charity soccer game held at Old Trafford in England every two years to benefit UNICEF. Louis was a part of "Team England", while Niall (being Irish) was a part of "Team Rest of the World." Other notable celebrities/athletes that took part in this special day were: Olly Murs, Matthew Morrison, Robbie Williams, Marvin Humes, Michael Sheen, Jack Whitehall, Cafu, and Ronaldinho. Jose Mourinho and Big Sam managed "Team England", while Claudio Ranieri and Niall managed "Team Rest of the World." Even soccer legend, Pele showed up for the festivities as the guest of honor.

The teams spent the whole week prior to the event practicing for the big match. They were given the full professional footballer experience through trainings with professional soccer managers, team bonding sessions, trash talking with their opponents, suit fittings for the bus ride and pregame, and to top it all off; a kit with their last name and number waiting for them at their locker at Old Trafford.

Niall was subbed into the game with about 20 minutes left of play time; Louis was shortly put in after that. Even though they were trash talking to each other due to being on opposite teams, they stayed close to each other on the pitch, one second being competitive and the next laughing and hugging like they usually do. This was a breath of fresh air for us One Direction fans who are missing interaction between the boys on their current break.

In the end, Team England won the match by a score of 3-2. Competitive Louis was all smiles drinking his bottle of champagne and holding his team's trophy. We all know he won't be letting Niall live this loss down for a long time, though the real winner of this event was UNICEF. Soccer Aid this year, raised an amazing €5.4 million.

I am so proud of both Niall and Louis for being such amazing people, using what they have been given to benefit others. They could have spent that week and night out partying like most celebrities their age, yet they choose to dedicate it to raising money for UNICEF. Not only did they get to live out their boyhood dreams of being football players, they also saved lives while doing so.