A Thai football team saved from a cave visits the Ellen DeGeneres show

The coach and 12 boys from the Thai football team who spent 17 nights in a cave before being rescued this summer spoke to Ellen DeGeneres about how they had survived a test that had shaken the world.

In their first group interview since the rescue in July, 25-year-old senior coach Ekkapol Ake Chantawong and players from the Wild Boars football team explained how they remained calm after Seasonal rains flooded the outlet of a cave in Chiang Rai, in northern Thailand.

"They were not scared and they still had hope," said Chantawong through a translator. "They knew that if they did not go out, someone would have to come and get them anyway."

The team had planned to stay in the cave for only one hour and remained trapped for more than two weeks.

It took eight hours for the 13th to be saved by a team of divers led by the Thai Navy SEALS. One player told DeGeneres that they had drunk water flowing down the cave walls to survive because the water table was too dirty.

The team also used meditation to succeed. Only weeks after their rescue, they trained to become novice Buddhist monks.

"When they meditate, they stay calm to be able to conserve energy when they are in the cave," Chantawong said.

They said that they usually slept an hour here or there, but rarely slept continuously. Four players had birthdays during the time they were trapped, but they did not celebrate them.

Since most of them could not swim, they were sedated before the divers put them safely through the flooded passages in the cave complex. Chantawong said that none of them remembered being rescued after being sedated.

They also did not know that their fate had made headlines in the international press.

"In the cave, they did not know anything, but they knew that many people were watching and supporting them when they were going to the hospital," Chantawong said.

DeGeneres also surprised them with the visit of one of their favorite football players, LA Galaxy star Zlatan Ibrahimović. He invited them to a training with the team and gave them VIP tickets for an upcoming match.

"These kids, I thought I was brave, but these kids, this team is braver than me and they show the teamwork together as well as the patience and conviction towards each other," said Ibrahimović on his show. best team in the world "