There are hundreds of thousands of Colombian Americans living in the Miami metropolitan area, according to U.S. Census estimates.<\/p>\n
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So it\u2019s little wonder why Colombia\u2019s match against Portugal on Saturday in Miami Gardens, Florida, was the most sought-after World Cup <\/a>ticket of the 72 group-stage fixtures, according to a report by The Athletic.<\/a><\/p>\n Asked Friday what it means to be facing Colombia in such an environment, Portugal coach Robert Martinez quipped, \u201cWell, it means I had to buy tickets for my family in November. That\u2019s what it means. Because I knew it was going to be difficult to get tickets.\u201d<\/p>\n Everyone on hand on Saturday can expect a fireworks show because the match will decide Group K.<\/p>\n Colombia (2-0-0, 6 points) only needs one point to secure the top spot in the group, having swept past Uzbekistan and DR Congo. Portugal (1-0-1, 4 points) would overtake Colombia with a win.<\/p>\n Portugal endured a rough start to the tournament with a 1-1 draw against DR Congo before responding with a 5-0 rout of Uzbekistan in which Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice, becoming the first player to score a goal at six World Cups.<\/p>\n Martinez expects a difficult test.<\/p>\n \u201c(Colombia) have players like James Rodriguez, Luis Suarez and Luis Diaz. … They transition well and they are very fast,\u201d he said. \u201cThey work as a team, they have tactical clarity. There is quality in the players and they love being part of the national team.\u201d<\/p>\n They also have Daniel Munoz, who has scored in both matches, including the decider in a 1-0 win over DR Congo.<\/p>\n So Colombia coach Nestor Lorenzo has no shortage of attacking options, but he is also managing three players carrying yellow cards: midfielder Jefferson Lerma and defenders Jhon Lucumi and Johan Mojica.<\/p>\n \u201cThe yellow cards are a concern, and I think the Italian referee was heavy-handed with them,\u201d Lorenzo said in Spanish. \u201cI don\u2019t want to let those yellow cards affect my mindset for a match like this.\u201d<\/p>\n Colombia also won\u2019t sacrifice a structurally sound defense to throw everything at Ronaldo.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to be careful with Cristiano and with everyone else,\u201d Lorenzo said. \u201cWe cannot neglect the other players just because of one individual, as it is a very well-rounded team. Vitinha is crucial to controlling the game, while Cristiano is key to finishing plays.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are hundreds of thousands of Colombian Americans living in the Miami metropolitan area, according to U.S. Census…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321473,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-321472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Red](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/260626-colombia-world-cup-ww-1552-259904.jpg\")
Colombian fans are celebrating at the end of the team’s match against the Democratic Republic of Congo in Zapopan, Mexico, on Tuesday.Ulises Ruiz \/ AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n