By Nicole Fernandes
TORONTO, July 1 (Reuters) – Portugal and Croatia’s World Cup last-32 clash on Thursday could be Cristiano Ronaldo or Luka Modric’s final game on soccer’s biggest stage, and the massive moment will unfold at the tournament’s smallest venue.
If there was any scepticism about how the 43,036-seat Toronto Stadium would hold up against its much bigger counterparts in the U.S. and Mexico, that was squashed by electric atmospheres, sellout crowds and special moments in the five group matches it hosted.
Toronto Stadium is not the grandest venue, but what it lacks in size it makes up for by bringing fans closer to the action and players, with few bad seats in the house.
Before hosting World Cup matches, the home of Major League Soccer’s Toronto FC underwent a C$158 million ($111.4 million) facelift to bring its capacity up to tournament standards, and those temporary changes are paying off.
Soccer fan James Cuthbert said the venue did not feel like a World Cup stadium in March when Canada played Iceland in a friendly as it was still being renovated. But when he returned for Senegal and Iraq’s group match last Friday, he was impressed.
“It feels different, it feels more like a world-class stadium,” said Cuthbert, who also attended the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Cuthbert and his wife were sitting in the back row of a 200-level section at Toronto Stadium but were very happy with the view.
“We’re (in) the very highest seats but it feels amazing,” he said. “Just being so close to everything (and) it still has that same World Cup feel.”
SMALL BUT MIGHTY
The NFL stadiums hosting World Cup games in the U.S. are impressive in their own right. Their capacities of 64,000 to 80,000 get more fans in the stands, and Belgium playmaker Kevin De Bruyne said the Seattle and Los Angeles stadiums had a real NFL feeling about them.
Mexico is also home to one of soccer’s most storied venues in the 80,824-seat Azteca Stadium, where Brazilian great Pele and Argentina’s Diego Maradona both won the World Cup. The latter also scored his famous “Hand of God” and “Goal of the Century” goals there in 1986 against England.
Toronto Stadium is not big, nor has it yet witnessed defining moments on the global stage. But the venue that sits along the shores of Lake Ontario in the city’s downtown was built for soccer and its small size creates a unique, intimate atmosphere.
Croatia captain Luka Modric was serenaded by a sea of red-and-white-clad supporters celebrating his 200th international cap last week after his team earned a 1-0 win over Panama.
One did not need to know the lyrics of the Croatian song to be moved by the passion and emotion reverberating around the open-air venue as Modric and the team did a lap of the field to applaud their fans.
Toronto Stadium’s finale is a huge occasion with so much on the line for Ronaldo and Modric, the former Real Madrid teammates chasing the perfect ending to their World Cup careers. But the small stadium by the lake is ready to seize the moment.
($1 = 1.4182 Canadian dollars)
(Reporting by Nicole Fernandes in Toronto, editing by Ed Osmond)
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