Qatar's weather was too extreme in the summer, people said (which ended up being true, so organizers moved the games to fall). Or the stadiums wouldn't be ready, or Qatar's human-rights abuses were just too monstrous, or some combination of these. FIFA even called hosting the tournament there "high risk." And the replacement was obvious: us. It was surprising in the first place that Qatar had beaten out the U.S. as 2022 host for reasons that, of course, ended up being entirely about corruption. But the theorizing about America as a backup location rested on the assumption that if a sudden replacement had to be found, the U.S. had the infrastructure in place to handle a quick-turnaround World Cup. There are massive stadiums all across this country, and they constantly host sporting events, rock concerts, and conventions. They could roll out of bed tomorrow, the thought process went, and handle a World Cup just fine.

No one is saying that today.

The chaos that went down before the CONMEBOL Copa América final between Argentina and Colombia in Miami on Sunday night was essentially unprecedented in American sports, and the deeper one dives into reporting from people there, the more remarkable it becomes that something truly horrible didn't happen. Here's only one of the stories, from The Athletic's haunting breakdown of the disaster:

One woman, who identified herself later to The Athletic as Diana, was carried unconscious into the stadium by a police officer. She was laid down on the concrete in the area set up with medics and eventually woke up and was given water. Steven, a 34-year-old Colombian who lives in Miami and was with Diana, described the situation."