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The Haitian Times
Bridging the gap
Haiti emerged victorious as it got the best out of Saint Lucia 2-1 in Les Grenadiers’ first qualification game for the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Thursday at Wildey Turf in Bridgetown, Barbados.
CAP-HAITIEN — Although Les Grenadiers put up a somewhat mediocre performance, they still managed to defeat Saint Lucia, coming from behind to win 2-1 in their first 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying game Thursday evening at the Wildey Turf in Bridgetown, Barbados. The victory was secured thanks to a scrappy 77th-minute winning goal from fan-favorite Duckens Nazon after Haiti was down 0-1 at half-time.
Saint Lucia opened the scoring in the 18th minute after Haitian left-back Duke Lacroix gave the ball away in the defense. Saint Lucian midfielder Cannigia Elva intercepted Lacroix’s bad pass before driving a low shot into the net. It was Lacroix’s first game with Haiti.
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Center-back Jean-Kévin Duverne leveled it up for Haiti in the 47th minute, heading Fafa Picault’s corner kick into the net. Haiti scored the winner in the 77th minute when Nazon clumsily dribbled past a sea of defenders, lost the ball, and then recovered it to shoot it past the opposing keeper.
Haiti shot the ball 33 times but only managed to score twice against a weak Saint Lucia side that sits in 165th position in FIFA’s ranking. Many of the players’ shots were well off target such as when Picault had a go from outside the box that went several yards wide in the 76th minute. Before that, in the 68th minute, Danley Jean-Jacques missed a golden opportunity when he skied the ball from the 18-yard box even though he was unmarked.
Coming from the break after half-time, Haiti had a much better performance in the second half with the inclusion of Jean-Jacques, who came in midfield for Carl Fred Sainté. He gave the team a little creativity that was missing during the first 45 minutes of the game. He linked well with the forwards, who could penetrate better through Saint Lucia’s defenders, who parked the bus due to seemingly their limited technical ability.  
Haiti’s poor performance was expected since they haven’t been racking positive results in recent months, even against weak opponents. This victory marked the end of  Les Grenadiers‘ six-game winless run. They are also playing under a new head coach, Frenchman Sébastien Migné, who has not had enough time to instill his playing style into the players. 
Migné was appointed in March and only coached Haiti’s team once during a warm-up game against French Guiana, in which he drew 1-1 the same month. The Haitian national team coach also had limited time to prepare the players for Thursday’s game since many of them arrived in Barbados late. As of June 1 — five days before the game —  only 11 players were in Barbados for training.
Despite the below-par performance, one positive takeaway from the game was that Duverne performed well in the heart of the defense in his second game for Haiti. Duverne, who plays his club soccer with F.C. Nantes in France’s top division, made his debut with Haiti against French Guiana in March.
The Paris native was often well-positioned to break Saint Lucia’s attacks, delivered accurate passes and scored the tying goal. 
Midfielders Jean-Jacques and Leverton Pierre also stood out as they distributed the ball well, controlling the flow of the game.
After that first game, part of the CONCACAF 2nd round, Group C, Haiti will continue its World Cup qualifying campaign Sunday with another game at the same venue, this time against the home team, Barbados. Magné’s team will then have a break until 2025, when they take on Curaçao and Aruba. The top two teams in the group will advance to the last and third round of the qualifiers.
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Email me at onz@haitiantimes.com
Onz Chery is a Haiti correspondent for The Haitian Times. Chery started his journalism career as a City College of New York student with The Campus. He later wrote for First Touch, local soccer leagues in New York and Elite Sports New York before joining The Haitian Times in 2019.
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