JOIN USA “Miss BumBum” who claims she slept with Cristiano Ronaldo, a Chilean stadium invasion and a Lionel Messi fan who snuck into Argentina’s training camp cast an unflattering spotlight on World Cup security on Wednesday.
Just when Brazil was soaking up praise for a relatively snag-free tournament the three security breaches gave organisers some of their most embarrassing moments yet and prompted football’s world governing body FIFA to reassess its measures.
First, the Miss BumBum incident.
Andressa Urach, a former contestant in a pageant to choose Brazil’s sexiest female posterior, was frog-marched out of Portugal’s training ground by security staff just minutes before Ronaldo and his team took to the pitch.
Urach and the world player of the year have something of a history -- or so says Urach.
British newspapers last year reported claims from her that Ronaldo, 29, had cheated on his girlfriend Irina Shayk with her.
At the time, the Portuguese superstar angrily denied the claims, tweeting that he was “deeply outraged by a situation intended, in vain, to affect my personal life.”
Urach, a co-host on a Brazilian variety program called the Muito Show, has been determined to get Ronaldo’s attention at the World Cup.
Last week she reportedly welcomed him to Campinas, the southeast Brazilian city where Portugal are based, by painting his green and red shirt onto her naked skin and holding up a sign that said “Kisses C Ronaldo.”
She appeared to be planning another media stunt on Wednesday. She had a microphone in her hand and was apparently wearing official accreditation.
But, surrounded by a knot of photographers, she was unceremoniously ushered from the premises.
After the incident, she tweeted: “I came to give good luck to C7 (Ronaldo) and was removed from the pitch and they took away my press credentials. “Where is the freedom of expression?”
Soon after Urach’s ejection came news that Brazilian security services had detained a man who sneaked into Argentina’s training camp in Belo Horizonte to seek star striker Messi’s autograph.
He told police he just wanted to get the shirt signed.
Other fans have been more crafty sneaking their way in.
Four Argentine fans got into last Thursday’s game between Brazil and Croatia by convincing a receptionist at a five-star hotel that they were representatives of an international company with commercial links to FIFA.
The woman, without asking many questions, handed them VIP tickets to the game -- where they took pictures of themselves with Brazilian football legend Ronaldo.