World Cup fever is getting a head start in South Florida, with Haiti locking in a pair of June friendlies that will turn Miami and Fort Lauderdale into a pre-tournament pit stop. The Grenadiers are set to face New Zealand on June 2 at Inter Miami Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, then Peru on June 5 at Nu Stadium in Miami. The games serve as Haiti\u2019s final tune-up before the World Cup and a rare live showcase for the region\u2019s sizable Haitian community. Presale tickets are expected to go on sale Tuesday morning, May 5, with general public sales later that day and prices starting at $50.<\/p>\n
Haitian Football Federation marketing head Karl-Philippe Alexis said the Miami friendlies are “part of a very intentional approach” designed both to test the squad and to bring the national team closer to its diaspora, and he expects big, noisy crowds in the stands. Alexis added that Haiti will base its pre-tournament camp in Port St. Lucie and that Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime plans to attend at least one of the U.S. warmup games, according to the Miami Herald<\/a>.<\/p>\n Where They’ll Play In South Florida<\/p>\n The June 5 showdown with Peru is scheduled for Nu Stadium at Miami Freedom Park, Inter Miami\u2019s new 26,700-seat venue that opened in April. Peru\u2019s national news agency framed the Miami date as part of coach Mano Menezes\u2019 pre-World Cup program, with the fixture listed on the national team\u2019s calendar, as reported by Andina<\/a>. The stadium\u2019s opening and event slate, including its early concerts and matches, are detailed by Inter Miami CF<\/a>.<\/p>\n New Zealand Friendly And World Cup Context<\/p>\n The South Florida mini-tour kicks off June 2, when Haiti meets New Zealand at Inter Miami Stadium in Fort Lauderdale. From there, attention shifts to the World Cup itself, where Haiti\u2019s group schedule features an opener against Scotland on June 13 in Boston, a June 19 clash with Brazil in Philadelphia, and a June 24 matchup with Morocco in Atlanta, according to the official tournament listings from FIFA<\/a>. The friendlies and several federation comments about the South Florida stop were first detailed by the Miami Herald<\/a>.<\/p>\n Tickets, Transit And Local Impact<\/p>\n Organizers say kickoff times were still being finalized at the time of announcement, but expectations are for strong local turnout and all the match-day trimmings that come with it. Fans should be ready for heavier traffic and tighter security around both venues on game days. Nu Stadium sits at Miami Freedom Park near the airport and is linked to regional rail and bus lines, and venue capacity and transit connections are outlined on public venue pages, including Wikipedia<\/a>. The club\u2019s site, Inter Miami CF<\/a>, also provides general information on the stadium complex.<\/p>\n For many Haitian supporters in South Florida, these matches will be the closest look at the Grenadiers before the team heads off to chase World Cup dreams. Local fan groups and diaspora organizations are already lining up watch parties and community gatherings around the June dates. For anyone hoping to lock in a seat, the advice is simple: keep a close eye on official ticket outlets and federation announcements for exact kickoff times and presale access details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"World Cup fever is getting a head start in South Florida, with Haiti locking in a pair of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258453,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":["post-258452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}