One of those surprises was the island nation of Haiti (or, I guess more accurately, half-an-island; middle school geography bee champs like me get it), which will make its second-ever World Cup appearance.<\/p>\n
But what’s most surprising is that they managed to get to the World Cup under a coach who has never even set foot in the country.<\/p>\n
READ: FIFA FLIP\u2011FLOPS, SAYS IT\u2019S UP TO TRUMP WHICH CITIES ARE SAFE FOR WORLD CUP<\/a><\/p>\n Frenchman Sebastien Migne was hired to coach the Haitian team about a year and a half ago. However, because of the rise in kidnappings, terrorist activity, and unrest since a massive earthquake struck the country in 2010, they’ve had to play their home matches 500 miles away on the Caribbean island of Curacao.<\/p>\n So, how does one coach a national team without going to that country? Well, you do it the same way a lot of people work these days: you do it remotely.<\/p>\n Haiti will make its first World Cup appearance since 1974, and did it with a coach who has never even been to Haiti. (Photo by EZEQUIEL BECERRA\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n “It’s impossible because it’s too dangerous,” Migne said in an interview with France Football magazine, per BBC Sport<\/a>. “I usually live in the countries where I work, but I can’t here. No more international flights are landing there.”\u00a0<\/p>\n So, Migne had to rely on Haiti’s national soccer<\/a> federation to give him all of the information he needed on local players, and he got to work from that.<\/p>\n “They gave me information, and I managed the team remotely,” he said.<\/p>\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/gettyimages-2234008381.jpg\")
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