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The Cristiano Ronaldo Mania Amid the 2014 World Cup Fever

Soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo is venerated like a demigod all across Portugal.
I was stunned by the fact that he was depicted in so many places, even used as an "embellishment". The phenomenon is a wide-spread craze in his home country.

Portugal boasts with Cristiano Ronaldo...

The stores were full of products depicting him.
Depicted on large posters in shops, bars, on shirts in souvenir shops and even a beer cans reminded us all - he's the top personality of Portugal right now...

Nevertheless, he's a great talent, introduction is not necessary...

Young Portuguese women ("Portu-gals") faint at his sight...

Thing is, during the 2014 World Cup Portugal has put tremendous faith in "pretty boy", but he disappointed terribly during the games.

The talented scorer kicked a single (seemingly obscure) goal during the tournament.
I attended a open-air transmissions of matches, feeling sorry for the anxious Portuguese supporters.

I wished Portugal had performed better, I really admire their traditional dynamism and perseverance... but, disappointments came one after the other and people everywhere were talking about "pretty boy's" poor performance.

At the 2014 World Cup, Portugal lost to Germany with 4-0, tied 2-2 with the USA and only won over Ghana with 2-1.

Unfortunately, Portugal was eliminated at group stage (3rd out of 4 teams).

Amid the agony and public desperation floating everywhere around, it seemed twisted seeing "pretty boy" depicted everywhere as a demigod. It felt tragicomic.

And I was in the middle of everything - witnessing his country's anguish in Portugal.

Depictions of C. Ronaldo were everywhere,... but, if I had to photograph all products and all posters on which he was depicted, I would have run out of gigabytes.

From promotional beer cans to clothing, it was utterly hallucinating.
Not that it bothered me. Not at all. But it was funny, even hilarious.

I do hope Portugal has better luck next time.

View more photos of the Cristiano Ronaldo obsession below...

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