SI

SI:AM | Copa America Final Marred by Chaos Outside Stadium

It could have easily been so much worse.

Dan Gartland

Sunday’s Copa America final was delayed for more than one hour after fans rushed the gates, causing chaos and injuries.
Sunday’s Copa America final was delayed for more than one hour after fans rushed the gates, causing chaos and injuries. / Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I can’t believe Lionel Messi tried to keep playing when his ankle looked like this.

In today’s SI:AM:

⚽ Copa chaos
🏃‍♀️ U.S. sprinter Gabby Thomas
🇪🇸 Alcaraz whoops Djokovic

What a mess

Sunday night’s Copa America final between Argentina and Colombia in Miami very well could have ended in tragedy. Before kickoff, thousands of fans—many of them without tickets—rushed the gates of Hard Rock Stadium. The mass of people was crushed against the gates in a dangerous scene that inevitably evoked memories of the Hillsborough Disaster. A video from Mexican broadcaster TV Azteca showed police lifting small children over the barrier to safety while the adults trying to enter the stadium were trapped behind the gate, jammed together in dangerously close quarters. Eventually, the metal barrier collapsed and fans began streaming into the stadium without ticket or security checks.

“People piled on. There was more and more pressure and people were fainting,” one fan told The Athletic. “There are children vomiting, a lot of people there, and you can’t move. In other words, you don’t have control of your body; you go where they push you. And on top of that, there is no one to organize or help with anything.”

Another video showed fans entering the stadium through a hole in the ceiling.

The result was a stadium that was dangerously full, with fans spilling out into the aisles and concourses.

Argentina midfielder Alexis Mac Allister’s mother told an Argentine TV station that her son had to come out of the locker room to help the family enter the stadium. “He was worried about us. It was inhuman,” she said. “He gave us a hug. We told him to stay calm and get ready to play.”

The chaos outside the stadium forced the game to be delayed for more than one hour as officials attempted to control the flow of people.

It was an ugly scene, but organizers are extremely fortunate that there was no serious violence. Without security checks, at least one fan was able to bring an entire glass bottle of liquor into the stadium. One day after one of the most significant instances of gun violence in American history, it was fair to wonder whether any of the fans who rushed into the stadium unchecked had been able to bring weapons into the stands.

The chaos before the game was especially noteworthy because this Copa America was supposed to be a sort of warmup for the 2026 World Cup, which the U.S. will co-host with Mexico and Canada. The ugly scene in Miami—which has been chosen as a World Cup venue—raised doubts about the country’s preparedness to host the world’s biggest soccer tournament. Those concerns are misplaced, though, because Sunday’s issues appear to be primarily the result of the Copa America’s organizer—CONMEBOL, the South American soccer federation—failing to prevent unticketed fans from making it all the way to the stadium gates. They should have instead had fans pass through a series of checkpoints on their way to the stadium, allowing only those with valid tickets to advance to the gates. But can you trust the public to properly identify who was to blame for the disorder? Regardless of who was at fault, Sunday’s events created a perception that the country isn’t ready for the World Cup that will be hard to shake.

The truth is that FIFA, which will be in charge of the 2026 tournament, is much more experienced at running major events than CONMEBOL is and will likely do a better job of preventing matches from being derailed by fan behavior. At the very least, Sunday’s game in Miami showed FIFA what not to do two years from now.

Carlos Alcaraz poses with the Wimbledon trophy after defeating Novak Djokovic.
Alcaraz won his fourth Grand Slam title Sunday. / Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

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Dan Gartland

DAN GARTLAND

Dan Gartland is the writer and editor of Sports Illustrated’s flagship daily newsletter, SI:AM, covering everything an educated sports fan needs to know. He joined the SI staff in 2014, having previously been published on Deadspin and Slate. Gartland, a graduate of Fordham University, is a former Sports Jeopardy! champion (Season 1, Episode 5).

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