<p><br /> Spanish soccer star David Villa, who comes from a mining family, sent two football shirts to the San Jose mine in northern Chile to show his support for workers trapped underground.<br /> </p><p><br /> Soccer is a solace for the miners, who have been trapped since a August 5 cave-in and face another two to four months in a tunnel some 2,300 ft underneath the Atacama desert.<br /> </p><p><br /> Among the 33 trapped is Franklin Lobos, a former professional football player who watched Chile play Ukraine in a friendly match after rescue workers wove a fibreoptic cable down a narrow bore hole.<br /> </p><p><br /> The shirts made their way to the remote mine in the hands of Cristina Cubero, the head of Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo.<br /> </p><p><br /> The shirts were singed by Villa, Spain's top goal-scorer on their way to a World Cup victory in South Africa, and one was handed over to Lobos' daughter, Carolina Lobos.<br /> </p><p><br /> The unlikely story of the miners, who survived on two mouthfuls of tuna and a glass of milk every 48 hours for over two weeks, has won them international attention.<br /> </p><p><br /> Rescue workers are drilling two wider bore holes into the mine where they can pull the men out. A third drill used for oil wells is on its way and officials hope it will speed the process and get the men out well before Christmas.<br /> </p>
