WATCH: Chaos unfolded at Hard Rock Stadium ahead of Copa America final as fans breached gates, climbed through vents, and trashed concourses
Argentina won the Cop America on Sunday night with a 1-0 victory over Columbia at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
The headlines this morning however, were about the fans and what transpired as they attempted to breach the gates and bypass security measures to catch the the final match.
The 65,300-capacity stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. was completely sold out for the tournament’s title match. But that didn’t stop thousands of ticketless fans from trying to make their way into the venue…by any means necessary.
Hard Rock Stadium Gates Breached Ahead of 2024 Copa America Final
It was so bad, that fans were literally entering Hard Rock Stadium’s ventilation system in order to take the vents inside.
United States Responsible? Think again.
And people actually said that American’s love soccer? Think again. Miami, Florida was a god damn madhouse for the Copa America final. While you’ll see a ton of people blaming the United States for the madness that unfolded throughout COPA America, that’s literally not the case.
This wasn’t the United States. It wasn’t CONCACAF either. You can point your fingers directly to CONMEBOL – who was responsible for security, according to Jeff Carlisle at ESPN:
The 2024 Copa is a joint venture between CONMEBOL and Concacaf with the two confederations splitting most of the proceeds, and U.S. Soccer set to get the aforementioned $10m, plus 5% of ticket sales. U.S. Soccer will have no role in the actual running of the tournament.
The 2024 Copa is a joint venture between CONMEBOL and Concacaf with the two confederations splitting most of the proceeds, and U.S. Soccer set to get the aforementioned $10m, plus 5% of ticket sales. U.S. Soccer will have no role in the actual running of the tournament.
The start of the match was delayed for over an hour due to the unruly fans attempting to get inside and continued throughout the match.
It was so bad, that fans who actually paid for tickets couldn’t even get to their seats because of how many people were able to enter the stadium illegally.
The stadium had to go under lockdown prior to the start due to the wild fan behavior. To make matters worse, Lionel Messi was taken off the pitch early after he fell to the grass following a hard challenge from Colombian right-back Santiago Arias.
Messi stayed on the ground and grabbed his right ankle as the medical staff attempted to assist but ultimately, was substituted by Nicolas Gonzalez.
Clearly frustrated, Messi was in tears as he sat on the bench in what was still a 0-0 contest.
Despite Messi’s injury, the reigning Copa America champions were able to defend their title. Argentina beat Colombia 1-0 thanks to a 112th minute goal from Lautaro Martinez.
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