Post by Taxigirl on Feb 18, 2004 12:24:56 GMT
Brazil's Samba boys and their exotic entourage have certainly added a touch of welcome glamour to the Dublin city landscape over the past 48 hours.
It makes a pleasant change from the stag and hen party invaders whose antics have occasionally put the Fair City on the map for the wrong reasons.
Young football fans have been queuing up to get precious autographs of Ronaldo et al.
So much so that Brazil's training spin on Tuesday came to a premature end.
The Lansdowne Road stewarding wasn't quite up to the job as youngsters invaded the pitch, which in turn, convinced the Brazilian stars to beat a hasty retreat to the dressing-rooms.
But not before several of them were nabbed for the precious pieces of paper with cameras also snapping frantically.
Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Parreira seemed unruffled by his players' workout being cut short.
"It's like this wherever we go," he smiled.
The cold Dublin air didn't seem to be bothering the smiling Ronaldo a great deal either although the big man comes well-insulated.
At the team's press conference, the local media even avoided making a fuss about proceedings being conducted in Portuguese.
Normally that would cause a row but evidently, it was decided to be on best behaviour for the world champions.
The Football Association of Ireland's staff all seemed to have decamped from their central Dublin offices to snatch glimpes of the greats.
Hopefully, somebody had remembered to put on the alarm back at base.
Such was the crush, you almost expected, he, who-loves-a-photo-opportunity Bertie Ahern, to materialise and invite the Brazilians round for a pint of Guinness in his Drumcondra local.
No doubt, Bertie will have his ticket for Wednesday's match though.
Like all Irish males in the ground, the Toaiseach's eyes will be firmly fixed on the football and there will be no glances round to see if any of the Samba boys' female fans are attired in their bikinis.
If only the game had been arranged for warmer weather.