World Cup live updates: Brazilians fans show up for Cape Verde as they take on Messi

South Florida is hosting its fifth FIFA World Cup match with Argentina taking on Cape Verde, with kick off scheduled for 6 p.m. on Friday at Hard Rock Stadium (which has been renamed Miami Stadium and stripped of all non-FIFA corporate branding for the duration of the five-week tournament).

The Miami Herald will keep you updated on what is going on inside the stadium as soon as the gates open in this live updates blog.

Cape Verde gets love from Brazilian fans

5:30 p.m. While vastly outnumbered, a smattering of Cape Verde fans were in the crowd. Like everyone else on this sweltering day, Marc Pina was searching for cold beverages in the Fan Fest area. He has dual nationality with Cape Verde and the United States, but his allegiance was obvious as he beamed with pride, hoping this would be the latest chapter of a David slaying a Goliath.

“Everybody loves the story of an underdog,” he said.

His wife, Diana Pina, also of Cape Verde ancestry, said “we want to shock the world.” She said her dream was that Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha blocked a penalty kick by Messi in today’s game. The couple was with two other friends, also Cape Verde supporters.

Cape Verde’s team also had fans from Brazil.

Talita Salioni, 22, was decked out in her country’s colors – yellow and green. She was with her sister, Carolina Flores, 28, and her brother-in-law Joao Flores, 27. The three Brazilians, who live near Brasilia, had flown up to Miami for a holiday and decided to attend their first World Cup.

Asked who they were supporting, Salioni replied, “Cape Verde, of course!” Pressed to explain why, she said “because I don’t like Argentina.”

Brazil and Argentina are historic rivals, especially in soccer. Even with Messi’s ongoing brilliance, Brazilians still consider Pele the greatest soccer player of all time.

This tournament though, they have added incentive. Cape Verde’s popular goalkeeper, Josimar José Évora Dias, who goes by Vozinha, has become a huge sensation in Brazil. That’s in part because he was named after a famous Brazilian soccer player, Josimar Higino Pereira. Brazilians have been instrumental in boosting his social media following and the country’s news program Fantastico sent a reporter and crew to Cape Verde to profile his family. Many in Cape Verde speak Portuguese.

Vozinha is said to love Brazilian telenovelas and the singer Ivete Sangalo.

Cape Verde’s goalkeeper “is very famous in Brazil,” said Carolina Flores, at Hard Rock Stadium on Friday.

Can the underdog win?

“Yes, they have a chance,” said Flores.

-Vinod Sreeharsha

Fans at the stadium battle the heat

4:30 p.m. The feels-like temperature was 103 degrees ahead of the match, prompting many men to go shirtless outside the gates and a few to dunk their heads in a reflecting pool by the main entrance.

Then there was Felix Olivero, wearing a purple Argentina jersey and matching hat, leaning on his crutches under the hot sun on the scorching blacktop of a Hard Rock parking lot.

“I’m drenched,” he said, surrounded by friends. Born in Argentina but living in Miami, Olivero hurt his knee in a rugby match and said it was a 30-minute walk to get to this spot shortly before 5 p.m.

Don’t you want to sit down in the shade?

“It’s Argentina!” he replied.

-Douglas Hanks

Fan Fest reopens after being evacuated because of lightning strike

4:15 p.m. FIFA fans cheering on Australia and Egypt at Fan Festival Miami inside Bayfront Park had to put the game on hold Friday as a lightning strike nearby forced organizers to evacuate and close the venue, authorities say. Around 2:30 p.m., FIFA World Cup Miami posted on its Instagram that the festival was temporarily closed due to weather conditions.

Read the full story: Lightning strike causes evacuation of FIFA Fan Fest Miami during World Cup match

The story behind the giant flags in the pregame ceremonies

4: 15 p.m. By now, if you have been watching the World Cup, you surely have noticed that FIFA revamped the pregame ceremonies. Unlike tournaments of the past, all players, not just starters, face each other at the center circle during the national anthems, which is visible to all parts of the stadium.

Also, the ceremony features gigantic flags of the two nations playing that day stretched out over almost the entire field.

How big are those flags, you ask? Really big!

They measure 172 feet by 124 feet, or 21,328 square feet, and it takes approximately 70 volunteers to display each banner during the pregame ceremonies.

-Michelle Kaufman

Read the full story: What’s behind those giant flags in World Cup pregame ceremonies? All the details

Argentina’s fight song

4 p.m. This isn’t Gonzalo Matti’s first time in an Argentina jersey singing “Ole Ole Ole” at the top of his lungs before a World Cup match this year.

But he’s confident this is where there will be a reliable chorus of true fans wherever he goes.

The 30-year-old Buenos Aires native went to see his team in Dallas. Lots of white and blue jerseys there. But Marti, now a Miami resident, noticed something: the Argentina fans there didn’t seem to know the national futbol fight song — like a true lifelong fan would.

“It’s the futbol fight song you learn when you’re a toddler,” he said after his father, Mariano, led an Argentinian-heavy coach bus through a few verses of “Ole Ole Ole” on the way to Hard Rock Stadium from the Golden Glades transit hub. “It’s easy.”

Alejo Matti, Gonzalo’s brother, offered to type the lyrics on a reporter’s phone:

Ole ole ole ola

Cada dia te quiero mas

Soy, Argentina

Es un sentimiento

Que no puedo parar

-Douglas Hanks

What do you need to know about today’s match in Miami?

All eyes will be on Messi again as Argentina aims to knock off the tournament darling Cape Verde and advance to the Round of 16.

Despite entering the match as overwhelming favorites, Argentina is approaching the match cautiously. Coach Lionel Scaloni and De Paul warned against underestimating the West African island nation, which finished runner-up in Group H after a 0-0 draw against Spain, 2-2 draw against Uruguay at Hard Rock Stadium, and 0-0 draw against Saudi Arabia.

-Michelle Kaufman

Read the full story here: Messi returns to Miami to lead Argentina in Round-of-32 match against Cape Verde

If you have a ticket

To start, we have a comprehensive guide with everything you need to know about today’s match for those that have a ticket with tips getting to the stadium, parking, what kind of bags you can bring inside, what kind of instruments, flags and signs you can bring into the stadium — anything you can think of.

Important info for ticketholders who also purchased a parking pass: In addition to the electronic pass you received, you must print and display the pass included in e-mail on your windshield. Only cars with this pass can access roads near the stadium. So, you will need an electronic ticket, an electronic parking pass and a printed out road access pass that goes in your windshield/dashboard.

— Michelle Kaufman

Read the story: Going to a World Cup game at Miami Stadium? Here’s everything you need to know

Watch parties

For the rest of us mere mortals who plan to watch the match on a screen, there are so many options around town to watch with soccer fans, from the official Fan Fest in Bayfront Park, to local municipal watch parties to parties hosted at local bars and restaurants that feature food and drink specials.

Read the full stories:

Looking for a World Cup watch party in Miami? See list of free community events

How to watch the World Cup in Miami away from the stadium. See the choices

World Cup is here! What you need to know about Miami Fan Fest, transportation

What’s up with the weather?

For the holiday stretch leading up to and through Independence Day, AccuWeather forecasters coined terms “heat dome” and “Fourth of July Week Furnace” to warn revelers about dangerous heat in parts of the country. For this weekend, at least, Florida isn’t on the list of states that may see temperatures 10 and more degrees higher that the historic average that include New York, Philadelphia and North Carolina.

-Howard Cohen

Read the full story here: How will the ‘Fourth of July Week Furnace’ affect Miami fireworks and World Cup?

This story was originally published July 3, 2026 at 3:26 PM.