---
title: "At the World Cup, Latin American Teams Keep Finding a Home Crowd in US Stadiums"
description: "Colombia closed the group stage with a scoreless draw against Portugal at a sold-out Hard Rock Stadium near Miami — and, as so often at this World Cup, the crowd made a neutral American venue feel like an away game for the Europeans."
category: "U.S."
category_url: https://herald.la/category/us
author: "Valeria Ortiz"
published: 2026-06-28T05:38:36.000Z
updated: 2026-06-28T05:38:36.000Z
canonical: https://herald.la/article/at-the-world-cup-latin-american-teams-keep-finding-a-home-crowd-in-us-stadiums
tags: ["World Cup 2026", "Colombia", "soccer", "Latin America", "Miami", "Los Angeles"]
---
# At the World Cup, Latin American Teams Keep Finding a Home Crowd in US Stadiums

Colombia closed the group stage with a scoreless draw against Portugal at a sold-out Hard Rock Stadium near Miami — and, as so often at this World Cup, the crowd made a neutral American venue feel like an away game for the Europeans.

When Colombia and Portugal played out a 0-0 draw on June 27 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, the result sent Colombia through as winner of Group K. The scoreline was even; the stands were not. By every measure, the building leaned hard toward the South American side — and that has been one of the defining features of staging a World Cup in the United States.

## A tournament made for the diaspora

The 2026 World Cup, co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada, spread 104 matches across 16 cities — and in the process handed the hemisphere's enormous Latin American diaspora a rare chance to support their teams close to home. Nowhere is that clearer than South Florida. Miami-Dade County is the most populous majority-Hispanic county in the country: about 69 percent of its residents are Hispanic or Latino, [census figures show](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami-Dade_County,_Florida), and Spanish is spoken in a majority of households.

So when Latin American teams play at Hard Rock Stadium, the math works in their favor before kickoff. Colombia, whose run also included a 3-1 win over Uzbekistan and a 1-0 win over DR Congo, [topped its group with seven points](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_FIFA_World_Cup_Group_K), dropping points only in the Miami draw against a Portugal side that itself enjoys deep support in the region.

## The Los Angeles angle

Los Angeles tells a similar story from the opposite coast. Nearly half of Los Angeles County's roughly 9.6 million residents are Hispanic or Latino, and SoFi Stadium in Inglewood has drawn full houses for its World Cup matches. The energy in those stands — for visiting Latin American teams as much as for the United States — has turned a brand-new NFL stadium into one of the tournament's loudest rooms.

## A record built on passion

The crowds are not only loud; they are vast. The tournament has already become the best-attended World Cup ever, with cumulative attendance passing the record of about 3.59 million set the last time the U.S. hosted, in 1994, [according to tournament figures](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_FIFA_World_Cup). That comparison is the real measure of how much the country has changed. In 1994, the U.S. set an attendance record largely on the strength of its big stadiums. In 2026, it is breaking that record with crowds that are not merely large but deeply invested — families who emigrated decades ago bringing children and grandchildren to watch the countries of their heritage play a short drive from home.

For the next round, Argentina is set to return to Hard Rock Stadium, and the demand for tickets has left little doubt about which way that crowd will tilt. At this World Cup, "neutral site" has turned out to be a technicality.

## Sources

- [2026 FIFA World Cup — Group K results and attendance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_FIFA_World_Cup_Group_K)
- [2026 FIFA World Cup — tournament overview and attendance record](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_FIFA_World_Cup)
- [Miami-Dade County demographics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami-Dade_County,_Florida)