Haiti sent a clear warning into the World Cup with a 4-0 win over New Zealand in Miami on Saturday, a result built on sharp finishing and an early control of the game. Ruben Providence opened the scoring after 12 minutes, and Haiti never gave the lead back at Inter Miami CF Stadium.
The victory came on the eve of Haiti’s Group C opener against Scotland in Boston on 14 June, which is why the result matters beyond a friendly. Haiti are the lowest-ranked nation at this summer’s finals and sit three below New Zealand, but the gap on the field in Miami was much wider than the rankings suggested.
Lenny Joseph doubled Haiti’s lead six minutes after the restart, then Frantzdy Pierrot made it 3-0 with a header after the hour-mark before Markhus Lacroix finished the scoring late on with a long-range effort. New Zealand had brought a competitive side of its own, with Nottingham Forest striker Chris Wood, Motherwell’s Elijah Just and new Dundee United signing Jesse Randall among the names in the lineup, but it was Haiti that made the stronger statement.
That statement came despite a disrupted build-up. Haitian midfielder Woodensky Pierre was unable to play because his visa was not approved by US authorities until too late, leaving him on a flight to Miami only around half-time, when he landed with Haitian soccer officials and hoped to catch the closing stages. For a squad preparing for a tournament in the United States, the delay was more than an inconvenience; it cut into the final stretch of preparation for a player described as the team’s only one based in Haiti.
Haiti’s next step is immediate and much bigger. Scotland await in Boston on 14 June, with Morocco and Brazil also in Group C, and the 4-0 result in Miami gives Haiti a lift before the level rises sharply. The scoreline was convincing enough to travel with them; the visa problem, though, is the sort of interruption that can linger into the games that matter most.
