A big part of the World Cup are the many rites and rituals before each match, and six Chinese children got to participate as flag bearers before Iran took on Morocco on the second day of the tournament.

The six children headed to St. Petersburg early Friday morning for their most important task of the day. The kids come from a poverty-striken county in Guizhou Province, but would soon have the eyes of the world on them. After six-hour of rehearsing, they would be ready to walk onto the field, holding the FIFA flag. This was the second match the children helped to begin as they also bore the flag in the tournament opener between Russia and Saudi Arabia in Moscow.