NJ gov: MetLife will be safe for players in WC final

The 2026 FIFA World Cup final at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium will heed the lessons of the ugly scenes the Copa América semifinal between Uruguay and Colombia in Charlotte and be “really safe and secure,” New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy told ESPN.

CONMEBOL opened a formal investigation after after Uruguay forward Darwin Núñez entered the stands and brawled with supporters following his team’s defeat against Colombia last week. The Uruguay Football Union has raised concerns over the safety of the players’ families who were seated with rival supporters during the game.

The scenes in the stadium have raised questions over the readiness of the United States and co-hosts Mexico and Canada to stage the World Cup in two years time.

But Governor Murphy says that the MetLife Stadium has a proud record of hosting major events and will be safe for the World Cup final.

“That’s never, thank God never, happened in MetLife Stadium,” Murphy said. “I don’t have any insights as to what happened last week, but security is paramount for us.

“Both security as a general matter, but specific security for fans, for families, for players. We’ve never had that incident in MetLife. God willing, we won’t, but we take every precaution.

“We have walls, we have moving walls, we have a lot of security. I just would say to folks who are considering coming to see one of our matches, you should feel really safe, secure, and confident that it’ll be a great experience.

“We just hosted several Copa América matches that went off really well. We could not be more excited. New Jersey, New York City is a hotbed of soccer passion. New York City’s a global superpowercity. New Jersey has got soccer in its blood. We are thrilled and we are ready to go.”

Murphy, the former U.S. ambassador to Germany, was speaking to ESPN in Berlin ahead of Sunday’s Euro 2024 final between Spain and England at the Olympiastadion, and said that all involved in the planning for the World Cup will use Euro 2024 to learn valuable lessons for 2026.

“Every tournament gives you some lessons,” he said. “We’re thrilled to be here at Berlin tonight and very excited to get back to Olympiastadion where we’ve been dozens of times.

“But sure, we look at tournaments constantly. Ones that either are hosted in the United States or hosted around the world.

“There are always lessons to be learned and our hope is that you can take all of those best practices and put them into our energies a couple of years from now.

“I could not say enough good things about FIFA and the partnership that we have with them. They’ve been terrific. And again, we learn every single day we learn something. And today’s no exception.”