Our team of reporters has been at the for the entire group stage and the very lucky ones will be there for the knockouts, too. So as the tournament pauses for breath for a couple of game-less days and before we move on to the agony and ecstasy of win-or-go-home football, we thought we’d ask them: what have you learned? This is what they said. ’s pulling power is as strong as ever In Gelsenkirchen on Wednesday, I was struck by the enormous number of fans holding cardboard signs with messages pleading for someone — anyone — to sell them a Georgia vs ticket, even if it meant them paying way beyond face value.
I wouldn’t underestimate the number of Georgian fans who were in attendance — — but so many of those holding the cardboard signs were wearing Portugal No 7 shirts...
or No 7 shirts...
or No 7 shirts...
or Al Nassr No 7 shirts. Advertisement The demand to watch Cristiano Ronaldo is as great as it has ever been, even at age 39 and after — or perhaps especially after — spending the past 18 months playing his club football in Saudi Arabia. But it has gone beyond that.
There has been a spate of issues with fans trying to run onto the pitch, both during Portugal’s matches here and at their training camp in Gutersloh, near Dortmund, in the hope of getting near him. Even his most ardent fans would concede that his powers are on the wane as he nears his fifth decade (actually, on second thoughts, no, they wouldn’t), but we are talking about one of the game’s .
