PHOENIX, Arizona – After a historic 2019 Concacaf Gold Cup campaign in which it reached the semifinals for the first time ever, the future is most definitely bright for Haitian football.
Les Grenadiers proved to be the revelation of the tournament, completing a perfect group stage campaign with three wins, followed by a comeback 3-2 quarterfinal victory versus Canada in which it faced a two-goal deficit at halftime, making it Haiti’s third comeback win of the tournament.
In light of Haiti’s 1-0 extra time defeat to Mexico in Tuesday night’s semifinal, it is also worth remembering that Haiti did not concede a single second half goal in the 2019 Gold Cup.
It all feeds into the idea that this Haiti team, with an average age of 24.33, is on its way to bigger and brighter things.
“I’m feeling proud for what the players achieved in the last several weeks and tonight,” said Collat in his post-match press conference.
“We played to our potential and we just need to improve our forward play because we missed some players, but I applaud my players and it proves Haiti had a fantastic tournament in reaching the semifinals,” added Collat.
Haiti’s emergence started a long time before the 2019 Gold Cup.
Last September Haiti kicked off its 2019-20 Concacaf Nations League Qualifying slate with a 13-0 win over Sint Maarten before finishing with a sparkling 4W-0D-0L record, with 19 goals scored and two conceded, earning a first-place finish in CNLQ.
With Nations League A and Concacaf World Cup qualifying for Qatar 2022 on the horizon, Haiti is ready to make even more history in the Concacaf region.
“This defeat is disappointing but it has been a successful tournament for us. I hope in September we can start anew. We must work harder to prove to everyone that Haiti was and can stay at this level in the future,” concluded Collat.
