Reports said that an estimated 7,000 people without tickets gained entry to the stadium, and prior to kickoff, fans were crowding the aisles and walkways. Security personnel were seen clearing those areas once the game had begun and checking to see if fans without seats had tickets.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and chief public safety officer James Reyes released a statement during the game expressing outrage at what they had seen and saying the county assigned more than 550 police officers to the stadium detail, plus other personnel from neighboring departments.
“Let’s be clear: This situation should have never taken place and cannot happen again,” the statement read. “We will work with stadium leadership to ensure that a full review of tonight’s events takes place immediately to evaluate the full chain of events, in order to put in place needed protocols and policies for all future games.”
The Miami-Dade Police issued the following statement after the initial lockdown of the stadium occurred: “We have had several incidents prior to the gates opening at Hard Rock Stadium for the COPA America final game. These incidents have been a result of the unruly behavior of fans trying to access the stadium.
“We are asking everyone to be patient, and abide by the rules set by our officers and Hard Rock Stadium personnel.”
Video and images taken by ESPN showed fans crowding around the southwest gate waiting to be let in. Fans had been congregating at Hard Rock Stadium since well before the planned kickoff at 8 p.m. ET, with one parking lot attendant saying he had been called to work early given that fans started to arrive as early as 6 a.m.
A handful of people could be seen receiving medical treatment and asking for water in the sweltering South Florida heat. Officers were able to push the crowd behind black gates and lock down the entrance so that no one could get inside, although plenty of fans had already made it to their seats before then.
A sellout crowd of more than 65,000 was expected for the championship match of the South American tournament, with Argentina looking to defend its title.
It was unclear which of the fans who gained entrance during the rush had tickets to the match. CONMEBOL, South America’s governing body, released a statement a day before warning that fans must have tickets to enter the venue.
The Copa América has been plagued by organizational and planning issues almost from the moment the tournament started, with teams complaining about field conditions, field sizes, the state of training fields, as well as crowd control issues.
At the conclusion of Wednesday’s semifinal when Colombia beat Uruguay, Uruguayan players Darwin Núñez and Ronald Araújo went into the stands at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, when they thought family members were in danger from opposition fans.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this story.
Source link : https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/40563453/fans-storm-gates-miami-gardens-copa-america-final
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Publish date : 2024-07-14 03:00:00
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