At
29, the FIFA World Player of the Year faces the United States in the
Arena da Amazonia in Manaus knowing this is his greatest chance to
dominate a finals. But his time in Brazil so far has been a mixture of
bizarre sideshows and constant injury concerns.
When
he arrived at the luxurious Royal Palms hotel in Caminas just outside
Sao Paulo 11 days ago he was greeted by around 1,000 fans, a man dressed
in a Donald Duck costume and a topless model.
Bum note: Andressa
Urach, a former Miss Bumbum pageant contestant, is escorted by members
of security out of the grounds during a Portugal training session
‘Ronaldo
Duck’ was wearing a Portugal No 7 shirt and the model was wearing only
a coat of patriotic Portuguese red and green paint — the circus had
well and truly begun.
The
topless welcome to Portugal’s base camp had come from Brazilian former
‘Miss Bumbum’, beauty contest winner Andressa Urach, who has claimed in
the past to have had an affair with Ronaldo — strenuously denied by the
player.
Six
days later she was ejected from Portugal’s public training session at
Ponte Preta’s Moises Lucarelli stadium and told to stay away from the
Real Madrid star.
Glamour
models with press passes aside, Ronaldo’s presence has captured the
imagination of Campinas, the third largest city in Sao Paulo state. And
waving to the 8,000 supporters packed into the Brazilian second division
club’s ground on Wednesday, he seemed to be enjoying the attention.
But he and his team-mates are less happy about the constant speculation over his fitness.
Asked
if the Portuguese players were sick of questions about Ronaldo’s
physical condition, striker Helder Postiga replied: ‘Yes, but if I am
tired of hearing the questions every day then you can imagine how it is
for him. I think the talk is too much. He has been training at maximum
and that is all there is to say.’
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