One of tonight's feature matches at the World Cup will be Colombia facing Japan in Saransk. The South American side's games are helping heal their nation, which was torn apart by half-a-century of an insurgency, which ended less than two years ago. Now the country's police officers and former rebels are using the beautiful game to recover from an ugly past, and work towards a better future. Toby Muse reports.

Five years ago, these men were trying to kill each other. Today, two teams of police and former FARC guerrillas take a group photo before a football match. The idea of this match is to strengthen ties between the former enemies, to find peace through football. The teams' captains give their men pep talks.

FRANCISCO JAVIER ORTEGA POLICE TEAM CAPTAIN "This is a game with the ex-combatants of the FARC. This is with our neighbors. Good luck."

FORMER REBEL FARC TEAM CAPTAIN "The idea is play well-behaved, play clean, and no hate."

Matches like this are only possible thanks to the 2016 peace deal between the government and the FARC militant group that ended one of Latin America's bloodiest civil wars.

JESUS DIAZ FORMER FARC REBEL "This is historic. We've never seen anything like this before. Former guerrillas and police officers facing off, but not in combat, but on a football pitch."

The two sides play hard. They're no longer enemies, but on the pitch they're rivals, and pride is at stake. Still, the guerrillas take the lead.

TOBY MUSE ICONONZO "If you didn't know, you couldn't tell who was a policeman, and who was an ex-guerrilla. And that was always the tragedy of the Colombian conflict: the poorest of the poor fighting each other on the frontline of a war that no longer made any sense."

Here in the Colombian countryside. The pitch and the uniforms are not quite up to FIFA standards. And out here, it's not hooligans who invade the pitch, but cows. Since the guerrillas demobilized, they're also helping teach local youngsters football. Here ex-rebel Mario Alberto Montiel and a former soldier, Omar Cortez, have developed a deep friendship over their love of football. They say that football is a way of keeping the children out of lives of crime.

MARIO MONTIEL FORMER FARC REBEL "We are increasing their access to sport and culture, getting them involved in this, rather than things they shouldn't be doing."

OMAR CORTEZ FORMER SOLDIER "We're teaching the kids to be good people, more social, and to give love."

Back at the match, it's half-time, and tempers flare as the police blame each other for the loss. They're down 3-1. And the goals keep coming. By the end, it's 10-2, the day belongs to the FARC. But there's no hard feelings.

FRANCISCO JAVIER ORTEGA POLICE TEAM CAPTAIN "Football brings people together. We do these activities with the community, and the people of the FARC, this type of integration through football brings people together and forges these ties of brotherhood."

No cup for the winners -- just a cigarette. Sometimes, peace isn't achieved through the grand signing of agreements, rather through 22 players meeting on a football pitch. Toby Muse, CGTN, Icononzo, Colombia.