ATLANTA (AP) — Haiti capped its third straight loss at this year's World Cup with a heart-warming moral victory.
The Haitians, playing on soccer's biggest stage for the first time since 1974, twice took the lead against 2022 semifinalist Morocco on Wednesday but still lost 4-2.
It was those two goals that made this latest setback so much easier to take, even to celebrate.
“We’re doing all this noise because my country scored two goals,” said longtime
fan Emmanuel Joseph, who kept the crowd cheering throughout the night with his red horn. “Haiti has already come to this World Cup after 52 years. For that, we are happy.”
Haiti opened the tournament with a 1-0 loss to Scotland, then dropped its second game to five-time World Cup champion Brazil 3-0, eliminating the Caribbean team from contention for the round of 32.
Haiti forward Lenny Joseph had a hand, or a foot, in his team taking the lead on Wednesday in the 10th minute after a low cross from Jean-Kevin Duverne. He back-heeled the ball off the back of Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou and into the net. Bounou was saddled with an own-goal by FIFA, but it was a spectacular effort by Joseph.
Thirty-three minutes later, and a few minutes after Morocco had scored to make it 1-1, forward Wilson Isador again put Haiti in front.
Three unanswered goals followed for Morocco, which earned a spot in the knockout round with the victory.
The crowd of 68,239 in Atlanta was a near 50-50 split of blue Haiti jerseys and red Morocco shirts, but the Haitian fans kept the noise going throughout the night with cheers echoing throughout the stadium.
“I’m disappointed for the Haitian fans, disappointed,” Haiti coach Sébastien Migné said. “But also we managed to show that we were worthy of this qualification. We were in the right place.”
Some fans weren’t quite sure what to expect after all that time away from the tournament. Francis Desir and his father, who drove up from Orlando, were surprised at the turnout. Throughout the years, Desir explained, many grew impatient and shifted their support to more prominent teams.
“We missed the World Cup for so long. We had Argentina fans, Brazil fans. Now we got our own fans," Desir said. “We don’t know if we’re going to see the time again, so we got to represent Haiti."
If Migné has anything to say about it, Haiti will be back sooner rather than later.
“Now,” Migné said, “we need to make some improvements and not wait another 52 years.”
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