His players know him as an unflinching hard man, but about 6,000 miles from his adopted home, Fabio Capello was on the verge of tears yesterday. Sitting in a tent in Lesotho, watching a 14-year-old boy put himself through the trauma of an HIV test, the England manager confessed to being an emotional wreck as he waited and waited for the boy’s results to come through — and he was not the only one.

The boy cried as a counsellor talked him through what the test would entail and what would lie in store if the test was positive. Capello hardly knew which way to look as the boy’s blood was taken and he waited for the two-inch testing strip to show the outcome. After an interminable delay, the counsellor announced with a smile that it was negative. Within seconds the boy had left the tent and was ambling across the field to join his friends, not all of whom could expect to be so lucky.

At first glance, the “Kick 4 Life” festival was an ordinary youth football tournament, albeit one with an illustrious guest of honour. But the tents dotted around the perimeter of the field were not changing-rooms. The groups of children outside were queueing to be tested for HIV.

In a country where 23.2 per cent of the population are HIV positive and where those aged between 25 and 40 are known as the “lost generation”, the arrival in Maseru yesterday of a testing team was far more significant than that of Capello, who was happy to oversee the tournament that served as a diversion from the real business of the afternoon. That, as he was to find out, was taking place in the tents.

“It was a very emotional experience,” Capello said. “I have taken part in many charitable events to help young people before, but it was never so emotional and so intense as this. There was a lot of tension in the tent. I have children and grandchildren of my own, so I was really afraid and worried. But the happy fact is that, at the end, we scored a goal, so to speak, and it was a very important result.”

Capello meant it. At a coaching clinic in another part of Maseru the previous day, he seemed to be perplexed by what he was doing here, but this experience moved him profoundly. So did the innocent smiles on the faces of the young boys and girls, some of whom would have their lives changed for ever before the day was out.

Visits such as this can attract cynicism, particularly where football clubs and football associations are concerned, which often leads to talk of “brand expansion”. For the next four years, the FA would not be able to visit Africa or any other continent without being accused of canvassing for votes for the election to host the 2018 World Cup finals, but there is substance to its involvement in this part of the world.

It cannot cure Aids, but with events such as this it can help to impress on the local population the importance of testing. It can also engage with the youth in some of the world’s poorest countries, as it has sought to do by setting up programmes in Botswana and Malawi, as well as Lesotho.

“I think we have to encourage this kind of programme,” Capello said. “The role if the FA is to give support and help in any way that we can. It’s extremely important to carry out programmes such as this and for famous personalities to help in whatever way they can. It is not just window-dressing. It’s very important that it’s something concrete and to leave a legacy.”

Capello and the other members of the FA delegation were flying back to London via Johannesburg last night, but their visit is expected to leave the kind of legacy the manager had in mind. For some of the children it would be medals from the tournament and for others it would be happy memories. For an all too large minority, it will be the day that they were given the news they had been dreading; but far better to live with that knowledge and seek treatment than to die in ignorance, as so many in this part of the world do.

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