Hard Rock Stadium was placed under lockdown shortly before the scheduled start time of the Copa America final between Argentina and Colombia, with the kickoff time delayed by more than an hour amid safety issues caused in part by ticketless fans attempting to make their way into the venue.
Supporters breached the gates around 6 p.m. local time, two hours before the game was scheduled to kick off. Videos quickly emerged on social media showing fans running past security guards and evading those who were on the ground to scan tickets. Several fans are suspected not to have tickets to the soldout match at Hard Rock Stadium, which seats up to 75,000 people. Several supporters made their way into the stadium, including the family of Colombia’s Daniel Munoz — his mother was in tears and his grandmother lost a shoe on the way in, per The Athletic.
At least seven people were being treated during the incident and at least 10 people were arrested, per USA Today.
Closed gates
Roughly a half hour after the breach, security officials closed the gates at Hard Rock Stadium as thousands of people remained stuck outside the stadium on a hot and humid day in Miami Gardens. Security switched on and off between letting fans in, but only allowed supporters to enter at a glacial pace. With roughly an hour to go until kickoff, just two gates were open, but gates were shut again with 40 minutes remaining before the game began, per The Athletic.
“There was a rushing in of fans when they opened the gate and because of that, they closed all the gates and were not opening them at all,” said CBS Sports Golazo Network’s Jenny Chiu, who is on-site at Hard Rock Stadium. “They do not have the infrastructure for this. They don’t have raid gear. They don’t have the security that they need and it’s very evident.”
Players left the locker room at one point to check on their family members, some even venturing towards…
