Wading for Ronaldo — Why the LWB Casino is attracting Portugal's soccer faithful
When the team's not playing World Cup games, the action shifts to an oceanfront Lake Worth Beach lot where fans eager to meet their favorite players walk the shoreline to the Four Seasons Palm Beach
WOULD YOU TRUDGE through sand and surf to meet your favorite team’s players?
Portugal’s passionate soccer fans are launching amphibious missions from the Lake Worth Beach Casino Complex to get up-close oceanfront glimpses of superstar Cristiano Ronaldo and his World Cup teammates.
In between playing tournament games in Houston and Miami and practicing in Palm Beach Gardens, Team Portugal is staying at the Four Seasons Palm Beach, a little more than the length of a soccer field north of the municipal beach.
The resort at 2800 S. Ocean Blvd. is accessible only to registered guests. But that hasn’t prevented the most determined fans of the red and green from attempting a few workarounds since the team arrived June 12.
Some have tried unsuccessfully to make reservations they had no intention of keeping, just to access the lobby for a chance encounter with a player.
Others have stood vigil on an easement across the street from the resort’s main entrance, hoping to get a glimpse of coach Roberto Martínez, playmaker Bruno Fernandes and others.
Many have discovered an unusual but effective strategy, one that requires a little exercise and a willingness to get their feet wet and dirty.
Fans driving from as far away as Orlando and Miami said they have parked at the Lake Worth Beach Casino Complex and the county-run R. G. Kreusler Park next door and then walked north on the beach for roughly 115 or so yards.
When they arrive outside the Four Seasons’ designated beach, they hang out at the water’s edge, sitting on towels, playing in the surf and keeping watch for Ronaldo and other big soccer fish.
“They didn’t let me in from the front of the hotel, so I went around,’’ said Tony Ribeiro of The Acreage, who parked at the casino complex and walked up the beach on June 15.
“The tape is there, but you’re still allowed to go through the water,’’ he said. “If the guys are hanging out on the beach or in certain areas behind the hotel, you can actually talk to them.’’
Ribeiro, 74, said he has spoken on the beach over the last week or so with goalkeeper Diogo Costa and midfielders Vitinha and Joao Neves.
“We were talking for a while. I was born not too far from the goalkeeper’s town. We kind of connected,’’ he said.
The morning after attending Portugal’s 0-0 draw with Columbia in Miami, Alex Ferreira and Andre Simoes of Toronto drove to the casino complex and walked the beach to the Four Seasons.
They stood in ankle-deep in the surf not far from about 20 other Portugal fans, some zooming their cellphone cameras toward the resort.
“If I could give them a piece of my mind after yesterday’s game, I would,’’ Ferreira said with a laugh.
“It’s cool to see the players,’’ he said. “Ideally, if Ronaldo comes out, that would be the big fish.’’
There was no Ronaldo beach sighting as of 3 p.m., but many fans were pleasantly surprised to see other players and coaches walking on the shoreline and splashing in the waves.
Although it was hot with no shade, the beach offered a better chance of meeting players than the easement on State Road A1A outside hotel’s main entrance. If players come and go from the street, they are almost always inside the team bus.
“The windows are tinted. And when the bus turns into the Four Seasons, you never see the players,’’ said Vic Piorro of the West Palm Beach Portuguese American Club.
But the team bus is easy to recognize. Emblazoned with “Portugal” and FIFA branding, it’s led by a lights-flashing police escort across the Lake Worth Bridge and west on Lucerne Avenue on its way to games and practices.
“It’s like the president is coming to town,’’ said Piorro, who joined throngs of fans earlier this month to watch the team’s plane land at Palm Beach International Airport.
Joe Gabriel of suburban Lake Worth Beach said he has proudly boasted to friends and relatives in Portugal that their national team is staying just 10 miles from his home.
“Of all the 72 teams (in the tournament) across America, my team, the Portuguese team, happens to be staying right next to us. It’s amazing,’’ he said.
Gabriel said he has tried, with no success, to access the Four Seasons. But he said a friend was able to get a reservation.
“He said Georgina, the girlfriend of Ronaldo, is there, too,’’ Gabriel said. “He saw Georgina working out at the gym.’’
Portugal’s next match is July 2 in Toronto against Croatia. And fans are trying to find out when the team will leave the Four Seasons Palm Beach for good.
“We are competing on the world stage,’’ Piorro said. “This is such a source of pride.’’
