World Cup sidelights: Ronaldo nearly injured by crazy fan!

Cristiano Ronaldo told Portuguese media on Thursday, during a training session in which a fan ran onto the field to get his autograph, that his troublesome left knee is fine.

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Ronaldo, who has suffered tendinosis around the knee, gave a thumbs up to RPT television when asked if he was 100 percent physically.

He replied: "It's fine."

Around 10,000 fans watched the open training session in Campinas in a carnival atmosphere.

At one point, a woman ran onto the pitch to try and reach Ronaldo. She evaded one security guard and ran another 40 metres before being brought down by another.

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Ronaldo, who played in Portugal's 5-1 friendly win over Ireland on Wednesday, went over to sign his autograph on her shirt before the Portugal players threw shirts into the crowd amid hysterical scenes.

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Left back Fabio Coentrao was the only player to appear on the Portuguese federation's daily medical bulletin after he missed training because of a bruised right buttock.

Portugal face Germany in their opening World Cup game on Monday.

"Portugal will not change our style or identity against any opponents," said midfielder Joao Moutinho in a news conference after the practice.

"We have to impose our type of football."

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Pope Francis joined in the football frenzy when he was handed a jersey with his name emblazoned on it before the start of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil on Thursday.

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The Argentian, the first Pope from South America,  added a picture and a post on Facebook saying, "I wish everyone a wonderful World Cup, played in a spirit of true fraternity." ? Pope Francis

Brazil beat Croatia 3-1 in the opening game of the tournament on Thursday.

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David Beckham is trying not to miss his glory days of playing for the England team and now enjoys just being a football fan.

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"The thing I miss most is playing for England," Beckham told Reuters ahead of Friday's premiere of a Showtime documentary, David Beckham Into the Unknown, that follows the footballer on a journey of self-discovery in the Brazilian rainforest.

"Playing for England, representing England, for me was obviously was my dream," he said.

Retiring from professional football in 2013 after 22 years on the field, the 39-year-old British celebrity athlete decided to travel with three friends on motorcycles across Brazil, traversing the Amazon to meet an indigenous Brazilian tribe and mulling over his life post-retirement.

"I think people will expect if I was making a documentary, that it would be solely about football," he said. "What we wanted to do is do something different, and also introduce people to Brazil who didn't know the parts of Brazil where we were going to, in the way that we did."

In the documentary produced by CBS Corp's Showtime, the footballer mused on his retirement as he travels from Manaus to the Brazilian rainforest, camping out in hammocks and sleeping in shanty farm houses.

"Out of my comfort zone would be not showering for six or seven days," he said with a laugh.

Throughout the 90-minute film, Beckham often contemplates his celebrity status, wondering if he'll be recognized in remote areas they are travelling through.

"I bought it up so much because it hardly ever happened, and I think that's what surprised me about travelling to those places," he said. "I didn't think that I would be known once we got deep into the Amazon and the tribe, and obviously I was right because I wasn't and that was refreshing."

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Family crops up regularly throughout the trip for Beckham, who has been married for 15 years and is a father to four young children. In the film, he reflects on the "selfish" choices he made during his career that took him away from his family, such as playing on loan for AC Milan while he was with LA Galaxy, and whether he might come out of retirement.

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"Any athlete that has ... played the game at the highest level for so many years, once you stop, there's always going to be a few moments where you feel you can come back," he said.

But the footballer said he's happy to be on the sidelines now, with most of his efforts currently going into establishing a football club in Miami, and being a dad.

And as for England's chances in the upcoming World Cup, Beckham thinks the team is facing a strong challenge in its first game with Italy on Saturday, but one that they can handle.

"Italy is an experienced team and talented team, so it's going to be a hard game and obviously any first game in a world cup is difficult but we've got a lot of young players," he said.

"The advantage of young players, they're not scared, so they will be going in and they'll be playing with the freedom that they should be playing with ... I think having young legs in there and having talented young kids that have played in the premiership is an exciting prospect."