If you saw the scene without knowing where it was taking place, you would swear it was in a Brazilian stadium, unfortunately. But the chaos installed before the Copa América final between Argentina and Colombia, took place at the Hard Rock Stadium, in Miami, and led many to wonder how the organization and security of the Championship and the stadium could fail so badly.
But the game couldn’t start on the scheduled time. The police did not let anyone in after they lost control of the public entrance. It was already 8pm (match start time) and many ticket holders had still not managed to enter the stadium.
It all started because some fans tried to enter the stadium without tickets. Some jumped over the wall and others crawled through the ventilation openings.
Some passionate fans said they were trying to find ‘breaks’ in the stadium’s security to gain entry.
Chaos was installed not only at the gates.
Videos and photos posted on social media show an escalator at Hard Rock Stadium that was reportedly destroyed by the public, glass broken everywhere, and handrails knocked down at the bottom.
At the end, the game started more than an hour late. Shakira performed for 25 minutes. Leo Messi was injured in the second half and cried a lot. It was just 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 América titles.
Let’s hope the chaos installed before the game will be studied and the flaws corrected, after all, in two years, there will be a FIFA World Cup match taking place in this stadium.