Haiti politicians have pleaded with FIFA to make a last minute call to slash ticket prices after admitting they are set to be hugely outnumbered by the Tartan Army in their World Cup opener against Scotland.
Scotland will be supported by tens of thousands of fans for their first game in the tournament for 28 years in Boston next month.
That's despite FIFA setting outrageously high prices for tickets, with the official Scotland Supporters Club allocation set at up to £372 and the resale platform from world football's governing body almost double that price.
But although there are an estimated 80,000 Haitians in Massachusetts, their community leaders have admitted they hardly know anyone who has bought a ticket because of the prohibitive prices.
And the US Government has banned fans in the Caribbean country from applying for visas.
Now the Haitians expect the Gillette Stadium will be completely taken over by Scotland fans and are pleading for help to get their community tickets.
Haitian-American Boston City Councillor Ruthzee Louijeune said: "I know fans will be here from around the world - the Tartan Army will be here, they’re coming in strong from Scotland.
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"But because of the action of this federal administration, the people of Haiti are not able to come as easily as other countries and we’re trying to do our best, as a diaspora, to make the team feel very prideful.
"Maybe it will come via FIFA releasing some tickets or working with sponsorships to make it happen.
"We are happy Haiti is back in the World Cup after 52 years. But tickets are very, very expensive and, unfortunately, we cannot afford it.
"For a long time, my office has been advocating for community tickets at a low cost or no cost and we have just hit walls every time.
"I know there are some Haitian people that are going, that have purchased tickets at face value, or whatever price is going on online, but it is cost-prohibitive for most people in our community.
"There were efforts by the Haitian ambassador, there were efforts to ease up on the travel ban so that the Haitian fans that do exist in Haiti could come and travel to the game because not only is it bad for morale, but it's bad for our economy.
"Haitians are crazy about football. Unfortunately, for our community, $1,000 for a ticket is too much.
"We expected tickets to be expensive, OK, $200 to support our team. But this is more than four times our budget."
And Massachusetts Senator Edward Markey added: "There is something fundamentally wrong when families in the Massachusetts Haitian community cannot afford tickets to an historic World Cup game and I just think that it is critical that that problem can get rectified.
"You are trying to support your country, so it’s been frustrating when I’m reading articles about FIFA making millions of dollars.
"It feels like high prices are a way to officially kick us out, but they don’t actually tell you they’re kicking you out."
