Hooligans stormed the Copa America title match near Miami, keeping scores of paying customers outside the stadium and raising questions on if 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 on Sunday.
Hard Rock is set to be among the 11 U.S. stadiumsused for the 2026 World Cup, which is being also played in Mexico and Canada.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Levine Cava said she's 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 a event unveiling 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 were kept outside on Sunday night. "But when I got there it was total chaos."
A representative for FIFA, the world soccer governing body that puts on the World Cup, could not be immediately reached for comment on Monday.
Once non-ticketed 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,” according to a statement issued by Hard Rock Stadium operators on 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 Hard Rock statement continued.
“It was mayhem,” shutout fan Rebeca Hwang told NBC News. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”
And once the stadium reached capacity, official 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,” according to a the Hard Rock Stadium statement.
“Ultimately, there is nothing more important than the health and safety of all guests and staff, and that will always remain our priority.”
Hwang said she was crushed for her children, 6 and 9, who spent months learning about the teams and following competition before flying 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,” the Stanford University lecturer Hwang said. “We, the ticketed ones, were treated like criminals, behind the fences.”
Fans with tickets wandered from gate to gate, in desperate hopes 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 intermission.
"There's no way they're going to let us in," Fonseca said he thought to himself at that moment.
The match had been slated 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 71-year-old Ramón Jesurún, chief of soccer’s governing body in Colombia, and his son, 43, were both 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, according to a Miami-Dade police report.
Jesurún and his son, who goes the same name as his dad, refused the order which allegedly touched off a fight with security, officials said.
The soccer chief's son allegedly kicked a security guard in the head during the fight, police said.
They were booked into jail early Monday morning and a representative of the soccer federation could not be immediately reached for comment.
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