MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Juan Nicolas wants to spend his time differently this time.
The Bogota, Colombia native witnessed the horrific scenes during the Copa America final two years ago. Thousands of fans without tickets I broke through the security gate at Hard Rock Stadium and watched the Colombia vs. Argentina match.
Colombian soccer team plays against Portugal on Saturday world cup They returned to the stadium for a group stage match for the first time since the incident, but this time security had been beefed up and multiple checkpoints had been set up.
Nicholas, who did not play in a game in 2024, said: “I feel a little bit of pressure coming here just to make myself look better and I want to show a better country to the world.” “Colombia is now new. Colombia has something new to give the world. We are a different country and now we have to show it.”
Crowd issues began hours before the July 2024 game. Fans dressed in Colombia’s yellow and red flooded the home stadium of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, leaving fans horrified and bleeding as security struggled to stop the rush.
Screams can be heard in the background of many videos circulating on social media that show fans trying to climb through vents to get inside.
Questions arose about how to handle the major soccer tournaments in the United States, which will continue for two more years: last year’s Club World Cup and this year’s World Cup.
there was Enhanced security Last summer’s Club World Cup match in Miami served as a prelude to ticket review measures expected on Saturday.
Before fans can approach the stadium, they must pass through three separate checkpoints surrounding the entire campus, and parking passes are checked well in advance of entry. A steel fence has also been installed around the area.
“This was a layered approach that people had to go through,” said Andrew Giuliani, executive director of President Donald Trump’s World Cup Task Force, which oversees the tournament’s operations. Multi-agency security efforts.
“We’re going to make sure everyone is on high alert, especially on that day,” Giuliani said, adding: “We’re just making sure there’s no problem. We’re going into the game on the 27th to make sure we can talk about what happened (on the field).”
Giuliani said there would be a “strong federal presence” both at the stadium and in the city Saturday, declining to say whether that would involve more than a typical game day. So far, three World Cup group matches have been held in Miami. A heavy police presence was seen in each.
“I think we like to show up for the team, but some people take it a little too far,” said Lucas Gaviria, a native of Manizales, Colombia, who attends Florida Atlantic University. “It has to do with our culture. We care so much about it that we have a ‘any means necessary’ mentality. ‘We know we don’t have the money, but we have to watch this game.’
Saturday’s game was highly anticipated, both because of South Florida’s large Colombian community and because Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo was in attendance. Tickets on resale site StubHub ranged from about $3,000 to more than $5,000.
“If you don’t have a ticket, you shouldn’t be here,” Giuliani said. said in Januarywhen he and other members of the task force visited the stadium during the College Football Playoff National Championship. “It’s not like an American football game where there’s aggressive driving. This is very different. We want to make sure we have security resources for the fans who have purchased tickets. Even if you haven’t purchased tickets, there will be a fan festival. There are other events in the Miami area that you can go to and have fun and be safe.”
Hard Rock Stadium (known as Miami Stadium during the World Cup due to FIFA’s sponsorship policies) has not commented as it continues to be involved in multiple lawsuits related to the Copa America final.
The multi-defendant lawsuits allege, among other things, that the stadium and soccer officials did not have enough security to handle such a large crowd, lacked an adequate number of Spanish-speaking personnel to work the event, and failed to protect legitimate ticket holders from “foreseeable criminal activity.”
Ahead of Saturday’s game, Colombian supporters said they hoped that moment would not define them.
“There are so many great things about Colombia,” said Nadia Rodriguez, a native of Bogotá, Colombia, who lives in Miami. “Good coffee, beautiful scenery, great songs, and a soccer team. Darkness is a thing of the past.”
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AP Sports Writer Tim Reynolds contributed to this report.
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Zach Pascucci is a student at the University of Georgia’s Carmical Sports Media Institute.
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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here
