Argentina’s upcoming friendly against Puerto Rico has been officially rescheduled and relocated to Oct. 14 at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, having previously been set to take place in Chicago a day earlier.
An Argentinian Football Association (AFA) executive, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the move to relocate from Soldier Field, home of the NFL’s Chicago Bears, was due to the ongoing immigration crackdown in the city, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
Chicago Park District spokesperson Luca Serra later said to the AP: “The promoter made the decision this morning due to low ticket sales.”
Argentina confirmed the rescheduled date and location on Friday. Kick-off is set for 9 p.m. ET.
Argentina played Venezuela at Hard Rock Stadium on Friday night, winning 1-0 thanks to Giovani Lo Celso’s goal, and were set to travel after the match to play Puerto Rico at Soldier Field. Prior to kick-off, Argentina’s national team announced that Lionel Messi would be unavailable for selection against Venezuela—his status for the match against Puerto Rico remains unclear.
Chase Stadium is set to host Inter Miami against Atlanta United in MLS on Saturday night, just over 72 hours before Argentina play Puerto Rico.
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Donald Trump, Gianni Infantino
President Trump previously floated moving 2026 World Cup matches if he thought cities were unsafe. / Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
In Chicago and other Democrat-run cities, U.S. President Donald Trump has deployed the national guard to bolster immigration crackdowns.
Trump recently addressed the situation in Chicago and the possibility of moving games at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which is co-hosted between the United States, Canada and Mexico, despite no matches being scheduled to take place in the city.
“They’re run by radical left lunatics and they don’t know what they’re doing,” Trump told a reporter. “As you probably know, we’re going into Memphis, and we’re going into some other cities, and very soon we’re going to go into Chicago. It will be safe for the World Cup.
“If I think it isn’t safe, we’ll move it to a different city. Absolutely… It’s actually a very fair question. If I think it’s not safe, we’re going to move it out of that city.”
FIFA vice president Victor Montagliani shut down any talk of moving games, citing FIFA as the only body with the power to do so.
The 2026 World Cup takes place from June 11 to July 19, with Argentina looking to defend the crown they won in Qatar in 2022.
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