MIAMI, Florida – This Friday at 7:00 PM ET, Concacaf will be airing a re-broadcast of two matches from 2019-20 Concacaf Nations League Qualifying: Montserrat vs. El Salvador and Haiti vs. Cuba. The matches can be seen on Concacaf’s YouTube and Facebook pages, plus the Concacaf App.
There is no question that the star of that 2-1 Haiti victory against Cuba was Duckens Nazon. The Haiti FW scored a goal and collected an assist in the win that earned Haiti a first-place finish in the 34-team CNLQ table.
In front of a full house at the Stade Sylvio Cator in Port-au-Prince, Nazon recalls with clarity the special electric atmosphere felt on that March 2019 night.
“It was my first time in Haiti with my dad, so I brought him for the game. It was his first time in Haiti in almost 20 years, and so when I scored that goal, it was amazing for me,” said Nazon in an exclusive interview with Concacaf.com.
“The crowd was really nice. All of the fans were together and I felt a unity between the fans and the team. The entire country was behind us and that was an amazing feeling. It is something that I will never forget. That emotion will always be in my mind,” added Nazon.
Nazon put Haiti in front in the 26’ with one of the best goals scored during CNLQ. In what he calls “his best goal” with Haiti, Nazon describes how he eluded seven Cuban defenders before scoring with a right-footed shot.
“I started on the left side with my right foot, then I came in. I took one, two, three defenders, and then I saw my teammate was on the other side. I wanted to give him the ball, but I saw a fourth defender coming, so I had to do something to trick him. I passed in front of him and another defender, and after the last one I just continued and when I saw the goalkeeper, I knew I was going to score. I had to score that one,” said Nazon.
Cuba managed to level the score in the second half, but Nazon and Haiti were not going to be content to settle for a draw. After convincing Haiti Head Coach Marc Collat to let him stay on the left side instead of playing centrally, the 26-year-old attacker again used his playmaking skills to set up Kevin LaFrance’s winning goal in the 87’.
“I remember I was on the left, the coach told me that I needed to play as a No. 9. I said to him, ‘Coach, let me go on the left because I feel comfortable over there and I can produce something over there.’ He said, ‘OK, do what you want.’ We needed a goal to win to finish first in the table. We had nothing to lose, just let me play on the left. I’ll try my best and see if I can make something happen. Two minutes later, assist and goal and we win the game,” said Nazon.
That victory set the tone for Haiti’s memorable run in the 2019 Concacaf Gold Cup, when they reached the semifinals, the best ever Gold Cup finish for Les Grenadiers. Now almost a year later, Nazon, who currently plies his trade with Belgian club Sint Truiden, is hopeful that he can one day soon play his club football in the Concacaf region.
“I would like to play for a Concacaf team, I would like to play in MLS because there are many Haitians there. There are a lot of Haitians in Miami, so Miami is a place where I would love to go play. Montreal is another place. I think if there is a good offer, I would be very interested in playing in MLS,” concluded Nazon.
