Haiti national football team
| Shirt badge/Association crest | |||
| Nickname(s) | Les Grenadiers Le Rouge et Bleu La Sélection Nationale | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Association | Fédération Haïtienne de Football | ||
| Confederation | CONCACAF | ||
| Sub-confederation | CFU (Caribbean) | ||
| Head coach |  Israel Blake Cantero | ||
| Captain | Judelin Aveska | ||
| Top scorer | Golman Pierre | ||
| Home stadium | Stade Sylvio Cator | ||
| FIFA code | HAI | ||
| |||
| FIFA ranking | |||
| Current | 80  18 | ||
| Highest | 62 (July 2012) | ||
| Lowest | 155 (April 1996) | ||
| First international | |||
 Haiti 1–2 Jamaica  (Haiti; March 22, 1925) | |||
| Biggest win | |||
 Haiti 12–1 U.S. Virgin Islands  (Port-au-Prince, Haiti; April 10, 2001) Haiti 11–0 U.S. Virgin Islands (Kingston, Jamaica; November 24, 2004) | |||
| Biggest defeat | |||
 Mexico 8–0 Haiti  (Mexico City, Mexico; July 19, 1953)  Brazil 9–1 Haiti (Chicago, USA; August 30, 1959)  Costa Rica 8–0 Haiti (San José, Costa Rica; March 19, 1961) | |||
| World Cup | |||
| Appearances | 1 (first in 1974) | ||
| Best result | Round 1 | ||
| CONCACAF Championship & Gold Cup | |||
| Appearances | 11 (first in 1965) | ||
| Best result | Champions, 1973 | ||
The Haiti national football team (Template:Lang-ht, Template:Lang-fr) represents Haiti in association football and is controlled by the Fédération Haïtienne de Football, the governing body for football in Haiti. Haiti's home ground is Stade Sylvio Cator in Port-au-Prince and their head coach is Edson Tavares. They have made one appearance at the FIFA World Cup, in 1974, but were beaten convincingly in the opening qualifying stages by three of the pre-tournament favorites; Italy, Poland, and Argentina. Their most recent achievement was in 2007, when the national team won the 2007 Caribbean Nations Cup.
History
Haiti has one of the longest football traditions in the Caribbean and was an early participant in World Cup qualifying. Throughout the 60s, and 70s, Haiti's footballing status in the region remained very strong, being considered the third strongest team in CONCACAF after Mexico and arguably Costa Rica. The strength of the national selection ultimately culminated in Haiti's first ever World Cup appearance in 1974, in which they surprised the world in their opening goal against a considerably stronger Italian team. The island nation has produced many talented star players over the years.
The Golden Age
The period from the mid-1960s to mid 1970s could be considered a golden age for Haitian football. With Antoine Tessy as coach for much of this period, Haiti would emerge as one of the strongest teams in the CONCACAF zone, being pooled with other regionally strong football nations such as Mexico and Costa Rica. By 1965, players like Henri Francillon, Philippe Vorbe and Guy St-Vil were already playing in the team and would be stalwarts of the side in the coming years.
The team developed sufficiently to reach the final round of qualifying for 1970, where they faced El Salvador. After losing the first leg at home, Haiti pulled off a 3–0 win away but the rules of the day dictated a play-off on neutral ground which El Salvador won to secure a place in the 1970 FIFA World Cup.
In the 1974 qualifiers, Haiti once again reached the final round in a qualifying tournament completely played at home. Haitian military rule of the time would make sure Haiti qualified at all costs. This time, with all odds on their favor, they would top the group and qualify for the 1974 World Cup. In West Germany, they would be drawn in an extremely tough group with Italy, Argentina and Poland. However, they surprised the football world in their debut game when star forward Emmanuel Sanon scored to give Haiti a lead over Italy, at the same time ending Dino Zoff's still standing record run of 1142 minutes without conceding a goal in international matches. They eventually lost 1–3, and would lose to Poland (0–7) and Argentina (1–4).
Haiti would reach the final rounds of 1978 and 1982 qualifiers, but failed to make the cut. The years since have seen Haiti's footballing status decline markedly. In recent years, the political situation in the country has led to numerous defections from members of the soccer team. The team has rebuilt somewhat through the Haitian diaspora in Miami, Florida, and some Haitian home games have been played in Miami in recent years. Last time Haiti played in Miami was on August 28, 2007 against Club Atlético Boca Juniors. Haiti as of recently has been rising once again as a footballing power in CONCACAF.
In the 2010 Haiti earthquake at least 30 people with ties to Haitian football perished, including players, coaches, referees and administrative and medical representatives. Twenty others with ties to Haitian football were feared to be buried in the ruins. [1] [2] [3] In November 2011 Haiti were knocked out of qualification for the 2014 FIFA World Cup by Antigua and Barbuda under the leadership of Brazilian coach Edson Tavares. In 2012 Tavares was replace by Cuban coach Israel Blake Cantero. Cantero is to lead the national team through the 2012 Caribbean Championship.
Fixtures and results
| Date | Venue | Opponent | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2012 | Haiti |  Puerto Rico
|
Caribbean Cup | |
| September 2012 | Haiti |  Saint Martin
|
Caribbean Cup | |
| September 2012 | Haiti |  Bermuda
|
Caribbean Cup |
Key
- F = Friendly
- WCQ = World Cup Qualifiers
- PSO = Penalty shootout
- a.e.t. = After extra time
- Haiti's scores listed first.
Current squad
Pool for 2012 Caribbean Championship qualifiers.
- =Available
^=Injured
- =Non-Participant
Current staff
- Men's Coach: Israel Blake Cantero
- Men's Asst. Coach: Pierre Roland Saint-Jean
- Fitness: Gregorio B. Modesto Gomez
Managers
- Edouard Baker (1934)
- Paul Baron (1953)
Dan Georgiadis (1959–1960)- Antoine Tassy (1965–1975)
Sepp Piontek (1976–1978)- Ernst "Nono" Baptiste (1991–1994)
- Calixte Herve
- Bernard Souilliez
- Jean-Michel Vaval
- Ernst "Nono" Baptiste (1999)
- Emmanuel Sanon (1999–2000)
Jorge Castelli (2001–2002)- Andres Cruciani (2002–2003)
Fernando Clavijo (2003–2005)- Luis Armelio García (2006–2007)
- Wagneau Eloi (2008)
Jairo Rios Rendon (2009–2010)- Edson Tavares (2010–2011)
- Israel Blake Cantero (2012–present)
World Cup record
CONCACAF Championship record
| Year | Round | GP | W | D | L | GS | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 1963 |
Did not qualify | ||||||
 1965 |
Sixth Place | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 13 |
 1967 |
Fifth Place | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 9 |
| 1969 |
Disqualified | ||||||
 1971 |
Second Place | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 1 |
| 1973 |
Champions | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 3 |
 1977 |
Second Place | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 6 |
| 1981 |
Sixth Place | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 9 |
| 1985 | Round 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 9 |
| 1989 | Did not enter | ||||||
| Total | 1 Title | 34 | 10 | 7 | 17 | 33 | 50 |
Gold Cup record
| Year | Round | GP | W | D | L | GS | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 |
Did not qualify | ||||||
| 1993 to 1996 | Did not enter | ||||||
| 1998 |
Withdrew | ||||||
| 2000 |
Round 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 2002 |
Quarter-Finals | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 2003 to 2005 | Did not qualify | ||||||
| 2007 |
Round 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 2009 |
Quarter-Finals | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 |
| 2011 |
Did not qualify | ||||||
| Total | 4/11 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 19 |
References
- ^ Williams, Sean A. "Haitian Football Federation says 30 dead". Jamaica Observer. Retrieved 19 January 2010.
- ^ Knoblauch, Austin (19 January 2010). "At least 30 Haitian soccer federation members died in last week's earthquake". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 19 January 2010.
- ^ International football journalism (19 January 2010). "Pain in the Haitian Football". Retrieved 19 January 2010.
External links
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Haiti CONCACAF Gold Cup squads | |||||||
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