Team U.S.A. does not need to play a single 2026 World Cup match in South Florida for the region to embrace a home team.<\/p>\n
Make that several home teams: Uruguay, when it played Saudi Arabia and Cape Verde this month. Brazil, when it played Scotland this week. And Colombia, when it played Portugal on Saturday night.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody\u2019s in yellow!\u201d said Merardo Becerra, a Colombian who lives in Miami, as he looked at the sea of Colombia jerseys streaming into the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.<\/p>\n
Miami has long cast itself as the capital of Latin America, always looking south to attract immigrants and businesses that have reinvented the city into a heavily Spanish-speaking metropolis. In doing so, Miami has become home to some of the biggest \u2014 and rowdiest \u2014 events in South American and Caribbean sports.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just soccer: World Baseball Classic games held in Miami this spring, including the final between Venezuela and the United States, drew sellout crowds that turned the Marlins\u2019 stadium in the city\u2019s Little Havana neighborhood into raucous parties. Some games were so heavily Dominican or Venezuelan that many fans felt as if they were in Santo Domingo or Caracas.<\/p>\n
But soccer\u2019s cachet has indisputably grown since the Argentine superstar Lionel Messi joined Inter Miami<\/a> of Major League Soccer three years ago. The club\u2019s distinctive pink jersey has become one of Miami\u2019s biggest cultural exports. The club opened a sparkling new stadium this spring.<\/p>\n The soccer furor has not come without growing pains. The final of the Copa Am\u00e9rica tournament<\/a> between Argentina and Colombia two years ago devolved into mayhem<\/a> as some ticketless fans tried to force their way into the Hard Rock Stadium.<\/p>\n That tournament was not run by FIFA, which organizes the World Cup, but the debacle still led to questions about whether the stadium would be better prepared to handle even bigger crowds this year.<\/p>\n FIFA put stringent protocols in place: Fans without a parking pass are not allowed to walk into the stadium. Instead, those fans must take off-site shuttles that require a match ticket to board.<\/p>\n The biggest test of those protocols was Saturday\u2019s match between Colombia and Portugal, which had reportedly drawn the highest demand for tickets of any match ahead of the tournament.<\/p>\n Both teams play well, and Portugal has the superstar Cristiano Ronaldo. But having Colombia play in Miami was also a perfect fit.<\/p>\n