Argentina vs. Colombia in Miami: A Home Game for Both Teams

Never was there any doubt that Miami, the nation’s most Pan-American city, was the most fitting place to host the final game of the Copa América, a South American soccer tournament that is being held in the United States for only the second time in a century.

But even the tournament’s organizers could not script a matchup like the one that will take place on Sunday night between Argentina and Colombia — two countries that, on any given day, would be received like the home team in South Florida.

“That stadium is not going to feel like you’re in Miami — or in the U.S., for that matter,” said Juan C. Zapata, who was the first Colombian American elected to the Florida Legislature. “It is a very Miami final.”

The tournament, which started on June 20, has lost some of its trademark South American feel being played entirely in the United States, with empty seats at some matches and players complaining about the surfaces of several fields. But the setting of the final may restore some of Copa América’s typical festive energy.

Argentina gets the most attention from American soccer fans thanks to the star Lionel Messi, whose move to Fort Lauderdale last year caused a veritable frenzy. But Florida, while home to the largest Argentine population in the country (about 66,000 people as of 2021), has a far larger number of Colombians (more than 400,000). Their longtime presence in the Miami area has contributed to the cuisine (bandeja paisa) and the music (Shakira).

Both populations are heavily concentrated in South Florida, where the culture is so inescapably Latin American that most residents, regardless of nationality or ethnicity, know the difference between an Argentine empanada (wheat flour, baked) and a Colombian one (corn flour, fried).