Haiti women’s team put up a convincing 2-1 victory over New Zealand

NEW YORK — Haiti’s girls’s soccer staff earned a hard-fought 2-1 comeback victory over New Zealand on June 5 in Spain, delivering what many followers referred to as its most full efficiency since head coach Pia Sundhage took cost in February.

The pleasant sport at El Maulí Stadium in Málaga was a part of the preparations for the second section of the 2027 FIFA Girls’s World Cup qualifiers.

Eighteen-year-old striker Lourdjina Etienne scored the profitable purpose two minutes into the second half, whereas veteran ahead Nérilia Mondésir equalized late within the first half. Midfielder Melchie Dumornay, one of many world’s prime gamers, arrange each objectives as Les Grenadieres continued preparations for the subsequent section of qualifying for the 2027 FIFA Girls’s World Cup.

Driving the optimism surrounding Haiti’s males’s World Cup qualification, Les Grenadières gave supporters another excuse to have a good time. To many followers, Friday’s win was the ladies’s staff’s greatest efficiency.

Haiti’s males’s staff additionally defeated New Zealand this week, routing the Oceanian facet 4-0 on June 2 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as pleasure continues to construct round Haitian soccer following the boys’s qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Haitian followers throughout the globe took to social media to precise their satisfaction after seeing a significantly better Haiti staff on Friday afternoon.

Indicators of progress beneath Sundhage

Haiti’s degree of play dropped noticeably after its look on the 2023 FIFA Girls’s World Cup. The staff typically regarded disorganized, struggled to maintain possession and lacked a transparent attacking identification. Gamers regularly appeared pissed off on the sector.

Many followers and analysts attributed a few of these struggles to the staff’s inexperience on the sidelines beneath former coach Malou Quignette, who took cost of a senior nationwide staff for the primary time.

The Haitian Soccer Federation employed Pia Sundhage on Feb. 13, bringing in some of the completed coaches in girls’s soccer. Sundhage, FIFA Girls’s World Coach of the 12 months in 2012, beforehand coached Brazil, Sweden, Switzerland and the USA.

The victory over New Zealand provided the clearest signal but that Haiti is starting to adapt to Sundhage’s system and regain the shape that carried the staff to the 2023 World Cup.

Questions stay regardless of the encouraging outcomes

Whereas Les Grenadières confirmed indicators of enchancment in Sundhage’s first three matches, they failed to attain from open play, suggesting that cohesion among the many attackers nonetheless must be sharpened. 

Sundhage surprisingly didn’t name up two veteran strikers, Batcheba Louis, Haiti’s all-time prime scorer, and Roselord Borgella.  Nonetheless, Keisha Gue, a ahead from the U-17 squad, earned her first senior call-up. Amelie Joseph, a striker for FC Metz in France, was additionally referred to as up for the primary time. Sundhage additionally omitted veteran defender Chelsea Surpris. Nonetheless, she referred to as up 10 defenders, highlighting that one in every of her priorities through the friendlies is to check out defenders.  

Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper Océane Toussaint made her first look for Haiti and preserved the lead with two late saves.

Les Grenadieres return to motion on June 8 towards Equatorial Guinea at Juventus de Torremolinos Stadium in Málaga, Spain.

Haiti’s subsequent World Cup qualifier comes Nov. 28 towards Mexico in a decisive sport wherein the winner will robotically guide its ticket to the 2027 FIFA Girls’s World Cup in Brazil. 

The sport can be performed at Texas Well being Mansfield Stadium on Nov. 28 and also will function the CONCACAF Girls’s Championship quarterfinal.

Associated