Toronto, Canada – The year was 2009, and a sculpted, spiky-haired, 24-year-old Ronaldo was greeted by hundreds of adoring fans in Toronto dying to catch a glimpse of the newly signed Real Madrid superstar as he graced the city with his presence for the first time.
Fast forward 17 years, and the visuals are almost identical, give or take a few differences.
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Hundreds of Toronto residents took to the streets on Wednesday, lining highways, thronging downtown intersections, climbing onto each other’s shoulders and peeking out of high-rise buildings, all to get a 10-second glimpse of Ronaldo passing by, as Portugal arrived in the city ahead of their World Cup round of 32 clash with Croatia.
The last time the football icon was in Toronto was August 2009 when Real Madrid played a friendly against Toronto FC, coincidentally at the same stadium where Portugal will take on Croatia on Thursday evening.
Wednesday being a public holiday increased the chances of fans catching a glimpse of the 41-year-old football legend at what is likely to be his last ever World Cup, and potentially last World Cup match if Portugal are knocked out of the tournament.
The city was buzzing with Ronaldo fever right from the minute Portugal landed at Pearson airport early Wednesday afternoon.
Biker groups lined Gardiner Expressway to escort the Portuguese team bus to the Delta Hotel, where hundreds of fans gathered to get a glimpse of Ronaldo as he exited the bus, and then again when the team headed to Centennial Park for their training session.
Even at the grounds in Etobicoke, dozens of starstruck fans sporting red #7 jerseys stood outside the field as Ronaldo and the Portugal team warmed up on what was supposedly the hottest day of the year in Canada.
The fan frenzy was valid; for most Portugal fans in the city, this was the closest they would get to seeing the one and only Cristiano Ronaldo in person.
Sky-high ticket prices for the match, some as ludicrous as $30,000 Canadian dollars ($21,000), were unaffordable to the average football fan.
Tickets to the sold-out game have averaged $2,500-3,500 Canadian dollars over the past week on resale platforms, even though Ontario laws forbid third-party sales above face value.
“I’m a dad and a husband, and I couldn’t justify spending that kind of money on a ticket no matter how much I want to see Portugal play in Toronto,” Joey, 33, told Al Jazeera, as he closed out his shift at Bairrada Churrasqueira on the fringe of Little Portugal in Toronto.
“But it still feels surreal that Portugal is playing here in Toronto, who would have ever thought that,” the restaurant worker beamed, as he flipped chairs onto the tables before mopping the floor.
Worlds collide
Joey, who declined to share his surname, was one of tens of thousands of Portuguese-Canadians who have called Toronto home for several decades now.
The first wave of immigrants arrived in the 1950s seeking better opportunities for themselves and their families. Just last year, the city inaugurated the Azores Parkette in the heart of Little Portugal to honour the 18 “pioneering men” who departed Sao Miguel, Azores, and landed on the shores of Halifax to build a new life.
So when Portugal take the field in Toronto Stadium on Thursday, it’ll be more than just a game for generations of hyphenated Canadians in the city; for them, it’s two worlds colliding in a once-in-a-lifetime moment.
For Shannon Medeiros, 46, the match holds even more significance. The football fanatic fell in love with the sport aged six, inspired by her father, who attended every game and coached her as she delved into the sport.
The game has been a crucial part of her life, and her family’s, since her father and his family arrived in Canada when he was 16 years old, in the 1950s.
Like many immigrants at the time, schooling had to be abandoned in favour of a job to help make ends meet for the family, which, in his case, arrived in Montreal with a single suitcase and lived in another family’s basement until they could afford a place of their own.
Football was the only non-negotiable, axiomatic staple in the Portuguese community that grew from a few hundred to more than 300,000 people.
“It’s something we do as a family now; that’s how much the game means to us,” said Medeiros, who now coaches her two sons in the sport the way her father did for her.
The storyline is almost identical to that of Stephen Eustaquio, Canada’s wonder boy who scored against South Africa to send his team to the World Cup round of 16 for the first time in history.
The Ontario-born, partially Portuguese-raised football star was guided into the sport by his father and his Portuguese background for a love of football. The sport was a way for the community to come together and enjoy a shared sense of identity, as Canada welcomed dozens of ethnicities decade after decade.
“The one thing you’ll see in the Portuguese community is how proud we are – of our heritage, our culture, to wear the jersey, put a flag up,” Medeiros told Al Jazeera.
A walk through Little Portugal during the World Cup would show you just that; flags split diagonally with Canada and Portugal in each half, fluttering on porches or glued to bedroom windows, an omnipresent CN Tower needle peeking above the neighbourhood anywhere you stand.
Match predictions
Medeiros admitted that while the team has not been playing to their full potential at the tournament, they have a strong chance of winning against Croatia. She’ll see whether her prediction comes true or not as she watches the game with her father at his house.
Elsewhere in the city, fans without match tickets are heading to sports bars, match screenings and fan festivals to see whether Ronaldo will score his first knockout-round goal at a World Cup that saw an unimpressive start for the Portuguese captain.
“I think Portugal will win 2-1, or maybe 3-1. But don’t tell my girlfriend I said that,” Josh Madeiros grinned, as he waited for his drink at Garrafeira. The Portuguese-Canadian 35-year-old will be supporting his side away from his girlfriend, who is Croatian.
He thought long and hard before admitting that Portugal’s team has had a shaky run so far, and that there’s only so much Ronaldo can do as a player in his forties.
“But he’s still my guy, and he’s still the GOAT [greatest of all time].”
