If you saw the scene without knowing where it was happening, you would swear it was in a Brazilian stadium, unfortunately. But the chaos that erupted before the Copa America final between Argentina and Colombia took place at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, leading many to wonder how the organization and security of the Championship and the stadium could fail so badly.
But the game could not start at the scheduled time. The police did not allow anyone to enter after losing control of the crowd’s entry. It was already 8 PM (the scheduled start time) and many ticket holders still had not managed to get into the stadium.
It all started because some fans tried to enter the stadium without tickets. Some jumped the wall and others crawled through ventilation openings.
Some passionate fans said they were trying to find ‘gaps’ in the stadium’s security to get in.
The chaos settled not only at the gates.
Videos and photos posted on social media show an escalator at Hard Rock Stadium that was allegedly destroyed by the crowd, broken glass everywhere, and handrails knocked down at the base.
In the end, the game started more than an hour late. Shakira performed for 25 minutes. Leo Messi got injured in the second half and cried a lot. It was only in the second half of extra time that Argentina scored a goal and won the match 1-0, becoming the team with the most Copa America titles.
We hope that the chaos that erupted before the game will be studied and the failures corrected, after all, in two years, there will be a FIFA World Cup match at this stadium.