The last time Haiti played a World Cup qualifying match on their own soil Boris Johnson was easing covid restrictions across the UK and Steven Gerrard’s Rangers were champions of Scotland. On the streets of Port-au-Prince, the capital city, gang violence was posing a bigger menace to society than a world pandemic.
Travelling to the Stade Sylvio Cator for the first leg of their World Cup play-off in June 2021 management and players of Canada were protected by special security measures. Nothing offered much guarantee of safety.
Weeks earlier a bus transporting the Belize national team had been stopped by armed insurgents on motorcycles with assault rifles. After some tense negotiations they were allowed a safe passage to their hotel but chose to train by the hotel pool and only left the hotel for the match itself.
With bus hijacks and kidnappings running out of control, Canada would be the last side to play a game of international football on the Caribbean island for some time.
In March 2024 the national stadium was taken over by the gangs, a statement by the Haitian Federation confirming that they had surrendered control of their traditional home. No one can say when the next opposition team might set foot in the country. Or who the team will be.
Capped 12 times by Scotland, Steven Caldwell ended his career with Toronto FC in 2013 before serving Canada as an assistant coach for two years and remembers the events of five years ago as if they were yesterday.
“We were actually the last international team to actually go to the country itself and play Haiti,” he tells Herald Sport
“It was on the back of a story over there where the bus had been hijacked by guys on motorbikes and it was a pretty serious situation.
“We went and we were subjected to high security. We went there at the very last minute and we took our own chefs and we won 1-0.
“It was during Covid and that was generally a weird time anyway. But it was clearly a very poverty stricken country.
“We played the return leg in Chicago because we couldn’t play in Toronto because of Covid restrictions, border rules and quarantine requirements.
“We beat them again and went through to Qatar, but even then the team were dangerous, they were fast, they had options in wide areas. More than that they were unpredictable.”
Everything around Haiti comes with a hint of the unexpected. Preparing to contest their first World Cup since 1974, coach Sebastian Migne has never set foot in the country. The football they play, like the nation they represent, is chaotic and erratic.
The security situation meant that they failed to play a single qualifier on home soil. Their home World Cup ties were exported 500 miles away to Willemstad, Curacao. Dick Advocaat’s side provided the opposition for Scotland’s big World Cup farewell, handpicked in the hope that they might provide a taste of things to come against Haiti. Whether anyone can replicate the seat-of-the-pants joie de vivre of a team which won just four of their eleven competitive games last year – and made it to the World Cup anyway – is debatable.
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Back in March the Haitians played a nondescript World Cup warm-up game against Iceland in Toronto’s BMO Field behind closed doors.
Appeals from the local diaspora to let supporters watch the game falling on deaf ears. There were no paying punters there to see it and, like so many international friendlies, a 1-1 draw suggested that the organisers did the locked-out locals a favour.
Migne’s side faced Tunisia in the same venue days later when, this time, a crowd of 13,000 watched Celtic’s Sebastian Tounekti claim the only goal of a tousy contest for the North Africans.
Covering the World Cup for network giant TSN, Caldwell was charged with providing commentary on Canada’s own friendly games against Iceland and Tunisia. A proud, patriotic Scot who looks back on his international career with a mixture of emotions – pride mingles with disappointment – his interest in the Haiti double header was a mixture of personal and professional curiosity.
Steve Clarke sent a scout of his own to Toronto and came to the conclusion that the team ranked 83rd in the world are not really a pot four team. Conveying that message to a Tartan Army who expect the Scots to win their opening game – or else – might be the Scotland manager’s biggest challenge yet.
Gathering second generation Haitians under a flag of World Cup convenience Magne has persuaded Wolves midfielder Jean-Ricner Bellegarde and Lugano defender Hannes Delcroix to commit to the cause. While Sunderland’s erratic striker Wilson Isidor scored the only goal against Iceland on his debut in March, former Celtic forward Odsonne Edouard has declined an approach to play against Scotland on June 13.
“I have watched Haiti a lot over the last six years,” he adds. “When I coached with Canada they were a team we played against two or three times in all.
“They are erratic and unpredictable. They’re not very organised but their chaos makes them dangerous opponents.
“They play off the cuff defensively and attack and they have a bit of dig and two or three good quality players. The reality is that anything can happen with them.”
In 1974 Les Grenadiers – like Scotland – failed to progress beyond the first group stage. Playing under the dark shadow of brutal dictator ‘Papa Doc’ Duvalier they faced a powerful Italian side in their opening game, midfielder Emmanuel ‘Manno’ Sanon becoming the first player to beat legendary keeper Dino Zoff for nearly two years. Though the Italians recovered to win 3-1 – of course they did – the goal sent shockwaves around world football.
While a win over Scotland would pose no immediate threat to the earth’s tectonic plates it would spell trouble for Clarke.
Chasing a first win at the World Cup finals since Sweden at Italia 90 victory is pretty much essential to have a realistic chance of finishing as one of the best third place finishers. While Haiti conceded three or more goals in a quarter of the games they played in 2025, Scotland are not renowned for their penetrative attacking play and defeat or a draw would place Clarke and his players back in an old movie. The steady drip of negativity would become a torrent.
“It will be tough and Scotland will need to play really well to beat Haiti by any amount, be it one goal, two or three.
“It’s not impossible to beat them 3-0, they are that kind of team. But we will need to play really well and be really careful of their quality because they turn it on in little spurts and it can be very dangerous.
“For 15 or 20 minutes they can be really hot and hurt you. They are capable of scoring goals against every team and the key when you play them is the ability to capitalise on the spells in the game when they are a bit all over the place as well.
“You have to be clinical and decisive in key areas. I think Scotland will beat them would I be looking for a cricket score? Probably not. I think they will be very hard to play against.”
While internal instability has seen Haiti’s citizens subjected to an international travel ban by the United States they can call on a significant diaspora of natives already living in North America. Like fans of every other country how many there are depends on how many can afford the eye watering ticket and transport prices.
For Scots of a certain age it’s difficult to avoid comparisons with another infamous opening game at the World Cup against CONCACAF opposition.
Italia 90 began with a chastening, humbling 1-0 defeat to the Costa Rica team coached by the redoubtable Bora Mijutinovic. A central defender with Newcastle, Sunderland and Burnley Caldwell was only nine when Andy Roxburgh was charging around Italy in a Tartan scard, but understands why people might make the comparison.
“It is similar to Costa Rica. But in 1990 we were not as tuned in to the analytics or the research on opponents.
“I’m not being derogatory about the way it was done back in the day, but it used to be that you just sort of went and watched them and took notes and played them.
“Now you can find out so much about everybody in world football and there is enough to say, ‘oh, this might not be brilliant, so we need to be on guard.’
“If Scotland are at 70 per cent in the Haiti game we could be embarrassed. We have to be ready and up for it.”
While cold hard pragmatism suggests that the three games could be a hard, bruising experience Caldwell feels ‘pretty optimistic’ of a win over Haiti and a point against Morocco.
Whether he gets to watch his homeland in action is in the lap of the gods. Assigned to Canada’s three games against Bosnia, Qatar and Switzerland, his optimism is partly rooted in wishful thinking.
“If Scotland beat Haiti and Brazil beat Morocco I think Scotland-Morocco will become a massive game and it could be in our favour to sit a bit deeper and be a bit hard to beat.
“I don’t see them being a team that will come out and cut Scotland open.
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“Unlike others, then, I am actually pretty optimistic over Scotland’s chances against Morocco and I hope they get through.
“I think I can maybe convince the channel to send me to cover Scotland if we make it to the knock out stage. They could put me in a kilt and put me on a plane somewhere and I hope that comes to pass because, my god, I would love to be at one Scotland game at least.”
