Hooligans stormed the Copa América title match near Miami, keeping scores of paying customers outside the stadium and raising questions about whether the venue is prepared for the World Cup in two years, officials said Monday.
Ticketed fans said they faced “total chaos” and “mayhem” when they tried to entire Hard Rock Stadium, where Argentina defeated Colombia in a match that started nearly 90 minutes late Sunday.
Hard Rock is set to be among the 11 U.S. stadiums used for the 2026 World Cup, which is also being played in Mexico and Canada.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said she has ordered “a full review of last night’s events” so that “we take all possible learnings going forward as we prepare for the 2026 World Cup.”
“I was outraged by the unprecedented events that took place,” she told reporters at an event announcing the 2024-25 county budget.
Dr. Manuel Fonseca shelled out $3,600 for a pair of tickets to see all-time Argentinian great Lionel Messi competing for, perhaps, his final major trophy.
“I’ve been to Hard Rock many times, and I was expecting a very safe environment,” said Fonseca, who, along with his pregnant wife, was kept outside Sunday night. “But when I got there it was total chaos.”
A representative for FIFA, the world soccer governing body, which puts on the World Cup, could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.
Once nonticketed fans broke inside, some gates were “closed and re-opened strategically in an attempt to allow ticketed guests to enter safely and in a controlled manner,” Hard Rock Stadium operators said in a statement Monday.
The gate closures only led to more problems as some unruly fans “continued to engage in illegal conduct — fighting police officers, breaking down walls and barricades and vandalizing the stadium,” the statement continued.
Shut-out fan Rebeca Hwang told NBC News: “It was mayhem. I’ve never seen anything like that.”
And once the stadium reached capacity, officials said, they had no choice but to keep fans out, even those with tickets.
“We understand there are disappointed ticket holders who were not able to enter the stadium after the perimeter was closed, and we will work in partnership with CONMEBOL to address those individual concerns,” the Hard Rock Stadium statement said, referring to the South American soccer confederation.
“Ultimately, there is nothing more important than the health and safety of all guests and staff, and that will always remain our priority,” it said.
Hwang said she was crushed for her children, 6 and 9, who spent months learning about the teams and following competition before they flew to cross-country to Florida — only to be “treated like criminals.”
“There was not much explanation, seeing people who illegally took our seats in the stadium, enjoying our seats, and we’re not even near a bottle of water or medics,” said Hwang, a lecturer at Stanford University. “We, the ticketed ones, were treated like criminals behind the fences.”
Fans with tickets wandered from gate to gate in desperate hope that someone would let them inside.
“There were so many people in the same situation, hundreds of people just going around to every exit,” Hwang said. “‘Frustration’ would be the understatement of the century.”
Fonseca and his wife kept wandering the stadium perimeter but gave up after they heard Shakira beginning to perform at halftime.
“There’s no way they’re going to let us in,” Fonseca said he thought to himself at that moment.
The match had been scheduled to start at 8 p.m., but as the gates became bottlenecked, officials pushed back kickoff, first to 8:30 p.m., then 8:45 p.m. and finally 9:15 p.m., before action got underway at about 9:22 p.m.
Fonseca questioned whether stadium managers were qualified to handle the World Cup in two years.
“It’s going to be a lot crazier, and I don’t think they’re going to be ready if it’s going to be like what we just saw yesterday,” he told NBC South Florida.
There was even unrest inside Hard Rock after the game when Ramón Jesurún, 71, head of soccer’s governing body in Colombia, and his son, 43, were arrested in a post-match scuffle with security guards, officials said.
They were in a tunnel leading toward the pitch when a uniformed security guard, managing foot traffic, asked several pedestrians to stop, a Miami-Dade police report said.
Jesurún and his son, who goes by the same name as his dad, refused the order, which touched off a fight with security, officials alleged.
Jesurún’s son kicked a security guard in the head during the fight, police said.
They were booked into jail early Monday, and a representative of the Colombian soccer federation could not immediately be reached for comment.