Omar Duran had by no means been to SoFi Stadium till Monday. He subsequently sees his go to for the Copa América group stage match between Brazil and Costa Rica as a type of rehearsal for the 2026 World Cup, now lower than two years away.
“It’s lovely,” Duran stated, clutching a beer in his left hand as he walked away down the stadium’s expansive concourse. “It’s wonderful what they’ve carried out.”
The match, which resulted in a goalless draw, was additionally a type of coaching session for the stadium. The first of a sequence of assessments, really, as SoFi hosts one other Copa América match on Wednesday, when Mexico takes on Venezuela. Then, on the finish of July, English Premier League giants Arsenal and Manchester United will meet there in a pleasant.
And for Otto Benedict, the stadium’s senior vice chairman for amenities and campus operations, nothing will probably be too small to miss given the duty forward. In 2026, SoFi will host eight World Cup matches, together with the U.S. workforce’s opening match, the primary males’s World Cup match performed on American soil in 32 years. Only AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, with 9 video games, will host extra.
“The issues that individuals most likely do not take into consideration,” Benedict stated when requested what he was targeted on Monday. “It’s a weekday. Our subsequent recreation is Wednesday. When we’ve World Cup matches, we may have weekday matches.
“We need to know the way a lot visitors we see on the streets proper now as a result of it’ll impression how we put together. So each little element is one thing we’re to know the way it works.
The most vital issues will probably be dictated by FIFA, the governing physique of worldwide soccer and the organizer of the World Cup. FIFA prohibits synthetic turf at main tournaments, for instance, so SoFi’s Matrix Turf pitch was coated with a short lived mat of pure grass grown within the West Coast Turf desert for this week’s two Copa América matches. For the World Cup, the pitch will probably be raised a few meters and a unique kind of grass will probably be put in.
“This is a warm-season grass,” Benedict stated. “The FIFA analysis workforce believes that this will probably be a recent seasonal grass constructing. So they’re doing lots of impartial testing. But for us it is simply good to see how a lot moisture there’s within the air. How is he reacting?
“It’s all good studying and factors that we’ll take and share with folks and say, ‘Hey, here is what we bought out of this occasion.’”
SoFi’s flooring can also be too slender to accommodate a regulation-sized soccer discipline, which should be not less than 250 toes broad alongside the aim line. This will probably be remedied for 2026 by eliminating the pitch-level suites within the 4 corners and increasing the taking part in floor, though this was not carried out for the Copa América.
SoFi’s 70,240-seat capability can also be small by FIFA requirements, however will be elevated to 10,000 with the addition of non permanent stands within the higher deck above the north and south ends.
SoFi is not the one World Cup venue to have a Copa gown rehearsal this summer season. Eight of the 11 US stadiums that will probably be utilized in 2026 may also host Copa matches, and eight matches within the event, some have been discovered wanting. Many stadiums might want to widen fields in corners and add grass fields to common synthetic turf.
It did not go effectively.
Players from each groups complained concerning the carpeting at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium for final week’s event opener, with Argentine goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez calling it a “catastrophe” and Canadian defender Kamal Miller who stated the camp regarded “as if it have been empty”.
U.S. midfielder Weston McKennie complained of a scarcity of environment earlier than his workforce’s opening win over Bolivia, performed in entrance of greater than 30,000 empty seats at AT&T Stadium exterior Dallas. Of the primary eight matches of the event, solely Argentina’s first match was bought out.
Monday’s SoFi recreation got here very shut, with an introduced attendance of 67,158. And whereas the surrogate discipline and small dimension have drawn complaints, participant evaluations have been largely good.
“There are issues that may clearly have to enhance. The dimension, the velocity of the ball, that sort of factor,” Costa Rica coach Gustavo Alfaro stated in Spanish. “But I really feel prefer it’s an excellent check, to know what we’d like.
“The environment was very good. Logistics is excellent. Everything was very straightforward for the groups. They did it very effectively.”
Teenage ahead Andy Rojas agrees.
“The stadium is spectacular,” he stated. “It’s an enormous, lovely stadium and it is nice for internet hosting the World Cup. It appeared just like the grass slowed the ball down so much, however the issue will be solved.”
Costa Rica’s Brandon Aguilera, left, and Brazil’s Lucas Paqueta battle for the ball throughout a scoreless draw at SoFi Stadium on Monday.
(Ryan Sun/Associated Press)
There have been a couple of different points — a press elevator by no means arrived after the sport — however nothing that negatively affected the fan expertise.
“It went effectively,” a SoFi official stated afterward. “Lots of the little nuances that will probably be required as a part of this huge occasion, we’ll take a look at,” Benedict added. “Whether it is the Copa, our upcoming concert events, even the NFL season in ’24, ’25. We will take these learnings and ensure we adapt.
Yet for David Cartagena of Irvine, who attended the sport along with his son wearing matching Real Madrid jerseys, Monday’s check was handed with flying colours by the stadium.
“For soccer and the World Cup? Are you kidding me?” he stated as he waited in a fast-moving concession line. “This place goes to be loopy.”
