BUENOS AIRES, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- The young Thai football players, whose dramatic rescue from a flooded cave this summer was closely watched by people around the globe, visited Argentina's popular River Plate club on Sunday.

On a smaller field at the Argentine team's home stadium, the young boys got the chance to kick around the ball with River Plate's under-13 team.

"The boys entered the dressing rooms and found River's alternate purple jerseys with their names written on them, which really got them excited," River's head of public relations, Adrian Varela, told the press.

"We are divided by a language barrier, but they expressed their appreciation with signs and none of us who were there will be able to forget that moment," Varela added.

The Thai team, known as the Wild Boars, are the honored guests at the Youth Olympics being hosted by Argentina's capital Buenos Aires, and took part in the games' inaugural ceremony on Saturday.

The boys came to the world's attention when they became trapped deep inside a cave, along with their coach, in Chiang Rai province on June 23, after rains sparked flooding that cut them off from the entrance.

An international team of rescuers, including expert cave divers, finally succeeded in getting them out by July 10, but only following a complex rescue operation that was often threatened by more heavy rains.

The youth games run from Oct. 6 to 18.