At least seven people, including one policeman and two children about 10 years old, were trampled upon and narrowly escaped being crushed to death in a stampede before Nigeria's friendly against North Korea in Tembisa on Sunday.

A massive crowd gathered outside the ground and forced the gates open before embarking on a mad scramble to gain entrance.

Shield-wielding police tried to stop the surge, and ended up creating a bottle-neck that left tens of people under 100s of feet.

One lady was left half conscious, and had to be revived by quick-acting police officers.

The match commissioner stopped the game minutes into the second half after receiving a belated report, but finally allowed play to continue after four minutes.

Nigeria eventually won the game 3-1. Yakubu Ayegbeni scored the first goal in the 16th minute while Obinna Nsofor got the second goal through a penalty in the 61st minute.

Obafemi Martins headed in the third goal in the 89th minute off a pull out from Kalu Uche. Korea got their lone goal in the 64th minute through Jong Hyok Cha.

Entry to the friendly game between Nigeria and North Korea was free and many more than the 10,000 capacity turned up for the match. The venue is not a World Cup venue, but the incident is likely to heighten security even further ahead of the World Cup opener between South Africa and Mexico at Soccer City on Friday.

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