Colombia top Group K after goalless draw with Portugal

A sellout crowd of 64,478 watched Colombia and Portugal finish 0-0 at Miami Stadium in Miami Gardens on June 27, 2026. The result sent Colombia into the round of 32 against Ghana and left Portugal second in the group, headed for Croatia.

The scoreless finish was Colombia’s first ever at a FIFA World Cup, and it came after a late Davinson Sánchez header was erased when VAR found a very marginal offside. Colombia had already arrived with momentum from a 3-1 win over Uzbekistan and a 1-0 victory over Congo DR, and it has now completed the opening round without defeat.

James Rodríguez made his 11th men’s World Cup appearance, passing Freddy Rincón and Carlos Valderrama, who were tied on 10 for the Colombian record.

Portugal did not break through despite Cristiano Ronaldo’s two-goal burst against Uzbekistan earlier in the tournament, a performance that made him the first player to score in six World Cups. Diogo Costa produced six saves, more than he had in Portugal’s first two matches combined, and Bruno Fernandes was denied by Camilo Vargas in the first half. Portugal’s opening 1-1 draw against Congo DR had already left little margin for error, and the point against Colombia was enough only to keep the team alive.

The draw also reshaped the bracket. By finishing second, Portugal landed on the opposite side from Argentina, pushing any possible Ronaldo-Lionel Messi meeting to the final if both sides go that far.

Nearly 5 million ticket requests were made for a venue that could hold only about 65,000 people, and there was no tailgating outside the ground, an expanded perimeter around the gates and a no-drone zone. Miami police intercepted 76 drones. The 2024 Copa América final, when crowd breaches delayed kickoff by more than an hour and more than two dozen people were arrested, shaped the response. Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz called that experience “an eye-opener,” and Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier credited a human-trafficking task force with two arrests ahead of the tournament.