{"id":307089,"date":"2026-06-14T13:54:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T13:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/307089\/"},"modified":"2026-06-14T13:54:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T13:54:10","slug":"haitian-fans-gather-in-miami-for-haitis-world-cup-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/307089\/","title":{"rendered":"Haitian Fans gather in Miami for Haiti\u2019s World Cup return"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carolyn Desert, 37, had never seen Haiti play in a World Cup in her lifetime.<\/p>\n

So as she sat draped in a Haitian flag inside the Little Haiti Cultural Center on Saturday, the former Miss Haiti winner could hardly stay still.<\/p>\n

Each time Haiti crossed midfield, she left her chair and nervously paced near the front of the stage, watching a screen that represented more than five decades of waiting for a return to soccer\u2019s premier stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s surreal. I\u2019ve never experienced this,\u201d Desert said. \u201cEven just one goal would be legendary.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Haiti's Haiti’s soccer team fans including Carolyn Desert (center) reacts as they watched the Haiti vs. Scotland Fifa World Cup game, in Boston, during a game watch party at the Haitian Cultural Center in Little Haiti, on Saturday June 13, 2026. Pedro Portal pportal@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

The last Haitian player to score in a World Cup was Emmanuel \u201cManno\u201d Sanon, who scored both of Haiti\u2019s goals during its only previous appearance in 1974.<\/p>\n

His name still sits on a soccer park in Little Haiti, a few blocks from where fans gathered Sunday hoping to see a new piece of history.<\/p>\n

After Saturday night\u2019s 1-0 loss to Scotland, fans will have to keep waiting to see Haiti\u2019s first World Cup goal in more than 50 years.<\/p>\n

But they will have more chances to gather, with places like the Little Haiti Cultural Center and NoMi Village hosting watch parties throughout the tournament, including for Haiti\u2019s next two group-stage matches against Brazil on June 19 and Morocco on June 24.<\/p>\n

At NoMi Village, the crowd eagerly watched on a large outdoor screen as Island TV broadcast live from the event with former Haitian national team captain Patrick Tardieu.<\/p>\n

North Miami City Councilman Pierre Frantz Charles was at the event and said the result didn\u2019t take away from what Haiti\u2019s return meant to the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is like a dream come true,\u201d Frantz Charles said. \u201cEven though we are losing, you can see the joy is all over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many fans wore the jersey FIFA forced Haiti to alter just days before its World Cup opener, a design that featured an illustration of the Haitian flag and the Battle of Verti\u00e8res, the 1803 battle that helped secure Haiti\u2019s independence from France.<\/p>\n

\"Haiti Haiti fans wore the jersey FIFA forced the team to alter just days before its World Cup opener. Jacqueline Charles <\/p>\n

Ralph Sinal, 30, bought his shirt months ago and disagreed with the sudden decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can see how other teams don\u2019t have anything on their shirt, but to ban it right before our game was a little outrageous,\u201d Sinal said. \u201cYou saw us play with it in the friendly games, so I thought it was a little outrageous.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few seats down from Desert at the Little Haiti Cultural Center sat Morhanges Elizee, known professionally as rapper Haitian Pooh Bear, who held court by the stage as nearly everyone who walked in stopped to greet him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been hearing this negative tone surrounding Haiti. But this is something we\u2019re really proud of. It brings everybody together. We want to show out,\u201d said the musician, who pumped up the crowd with a halftime performance. \u201cIf this team wins just one game, that\u2019s it, we\u2019re going to go nuts. I mean worldwide, not just the people in Haiti. The Haitians in Florida, New York, Boston, Europe, everywhere. It would mean the world to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Haitian Haitian artist Morhanges Elize aka \u201cHaitian Poohbear\u201d sings during the halftime break of the Haiti vs. Scotland Fifa World Cup game, in Boston, at a game watch party at the Haitian Cultural Center in Little Haiti, on Saturday June 13, 2026. Pedro Portal pportal@miamiherald.com <\/p>\n

To community organizer Pierre Mervilier, the simple act of being one of the 48 teams selected for the World Cup represents a national milestone. But what he expects to carry from this moment doesn\u2019t have much to do with the result.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s beyond the game. When the final whistle blows, we will still be a community,\u201d Mervilier said. \u201cThis is a moment people will ask you about in the future: \u2018Where were you for the 2026 World Cup?\u2019 I\u2019m so happy that we could do it together while having fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haiti\u2019s next game will come against Brazil at 8:30 p.m. Friday at Philadelphia Stadium.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Carolyn Desert, 37, had never seen Haiti play in a World Cup in her lifetime. So as she…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307090,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-307089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307089","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=307089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}