FRISCO — Thiago Garcia was one of thousands waiting outside of Toyota Stadium for hours Sunday.
The 7-year-old Dallas native was dressed head-to-toe in light-pink Inter Miami Lionel Messi gear, all the way down to his Crocs. Those were specially made for him by his grandmother for his birthday party this past weekend, which Garcia said marked his seventh year of being a Messi fan.
Fans were waiting in the 103-degree heat to catch a glimpse of the Argentinian soccer star entering the stadium to play his first road game at 8:30 p.m. for Inter Miami against FC Dallas.
Garcia held a sign that read “Messi para Presidente!!!” with a cartoon drawing of the player in his Argentinian jersey.
One day, Garcia hopes to be a professional soccer player. He likes Messi because “he’s a good player and a good person,” he said.
As kickoff crept closer, crowds outside Toyota Stadium grew to the thousands. Ticket lines stretched out into the streets. Kids kicked soccer balls in grassy areas near the stadium. People stood near the lines trying to resell tickets for hundreds of dollars to those approaching.
A car parade drove down Main Street. Seven people wearing pink Inter Miami jerseys sat on the hood of a black truck, holding umbrellas spray painted with Miami’s “305″ area code, waving around baby-pink balloons and flags and singing loudly.
Of course, Miami fans weren’t the only loud supporters.
El Matador, an FC Dallas supporters group, was out in full force Sunday. They chanted in Spanish and English, and held up their FC Dallas flags proudly as fans around them danced to their drums.
Jose Torres, who plays with the group, said this crowd was one of the biggest ones he’s seen.
Over 19,000 people were expected to attend the game, the first packed stadium FC Dallas will have seen since a July 4 match against D.C. United.
Justin Koch and his mom, Jessica, came all the way from Louisiana to see the “greatest footballer of all time.”
They think this is the closest Messi will play to Louisiana, so they bought tickets for $1,000 each and made the drive.
Public sale tickets on Thursday sold out within 10 minutes, leaving fans to spend more money on resale tickets.
Alan Sosa and his friend Marcelo Delgado spent $1,000 between the both of them for tickets they found on Ticketmaster.
Sosa said he never thought his favorite soccer player would play for a U.S. team, let alone play in his home city of Dallas.
He said he would have paid $10,000 to see Messi play in-person.
“It’s a dream,” he said.
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