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Miami’s final World Cup group stage match is Saturday evening, and it’s a crucial one: Colombia faces Portugal with Group K and a potential spot in the knockout round on the line.
Colombia enters the 7:30 p.m. match at Miami Stadium (aka Hard Rock Stadium) in the driver’s seat in the group with six points, but the Colombians know they are facing one of the best teams in the world — one that is motivated and playing much better than it did at the start of the tournament.

“We’re going to be facing a huge team … They are a major candidate, of course, to win the entire World Cup,” Colombia coach Néstor Lorenzo said after his team beat the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Tuesday. “I think this will be a huge trial for us, a huge challenge. We are going to try to use other tools, different from the tools that we use now or the ones that we used from Uzbekistan so we can be at that level for that huge opponent.”
Colombia needed a 76th-minute goal from Crystal Palace standout Daniel Muñoz to scrape past the DRC, but that goal pushed the team into first place in the group.
Portugal is in second place in the group with four points; it suffered a surprising draw against the DRC in its first match. The draw led to a lot of criticism for the Portuguese squad, particularly toward aging superstar forward Cristiano Ronaldo. But Portugal responded with a 5-0 blowout win over Uzbekistan. Ronaldo, 41, scored twice in the win, becoming the first player to score in six World Cup tournaments.
“I believe it’s important to control the emotion,” Portuguese coach Roberto Martinez said after the match against Uzbekistan. “That’s what we tried to do in the opener match. We scored, and then we lost control of the game. We had the positions, we had the lines. But we were very emotional. We had to work in a different way, and I think we were able to do so (against Uzbekistan). … I believe that overall, controlling emotions is the most important thing, controlling emotions after scoring.”

Colombia has already clinched a spot in the Round of 32, but Saturday’s match is not meaningless. Colombia needs a win or a draw to clinch the top spot in the group. If Portugal wins, it edges out Colombia for the top spot. The winner of the group will face a third-place team from Group D, E, I, J or L (potential opponents include Paraguay, Ecuador, Senegal, Iraq, Austria, Algeria, Croatia or Ghana). The second-place finisher will face the second-place team from Group L (England, Croatia or Ghana).
“You saw how the matches are,” Lorenzo said. “It’s very tight. Everybody’s on an equal footing. … Thank God we have the appropriate points now. We have grown in terms of our performance.”
The Portuguese team, which is based in Palm Beach Gardens for the group stage, also has a lot to play for. If it loses to Colombia, it has a small risk of falling into third place in the group.
If the DRC beats Uzbekistan and Portugal loses to Colombia, Portugal and the DRC will be tied with four points. Portugal’s five-goal win over Uzbekistan looms large, as the DRC enters its final group match with a -1 goal differential. The DRC would need a blowout win of its own and would likely need Portugal to lose by multiple goals. With four points, Portugal would likely still advance to the Round of 32, but if it finished in third, it may face England in the Round of 32.

Saturday’s match should have an exciting atmosphere. Boosted by Ronaldo’s global appeal, Portugal has thousands of fans in the United States, in addition to the fans who traveled from Europe. South Florida is also home to hundreds of thousands of people from Colombia or of Colombian descent, and they will likely turn out in force for the big game. This match has been one of the most in-demand group stage tickets in the whole World Cup.
“It’s just so emotional, so exciting, I would say,” Lorenzo said of the nation’s supporters. “At every single time, I need to tell thanks to all of the fans because it’s just amazing. I was awe-struck with their passion, with their excitement. Also for the guys, for all of us, it makes us even more committed to give everything we possibly have to fight for that yellow shirt that is filling up all of the entire stadium.”
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