Haiti coach urges team to keep fighting ahead of Morocco match in Atlanta, World Cup exit
Haiti national team coach Sébastien Migné has told his players that, despite their elimination from this year’s FIFA World Cup, they don’t have a right to give up.
Haiti lost to Scotland and Brazil, and mathematically cannot advance. But Migné says the team still feels an obligation “to perform well” in its final Group C match against Morocco on Wednesday in Atlanta “because our qualification meant so much to the Haitian people.”
“We do not have a right to give up,” he said. “Yes we have suffered two defeats, but true failure would be to stop fighting.”
One of his biggest challenges, he said, after the losses was rallying Les Grenadiers.
“We had to remind the players that simply being here is an opportunity in itself — to compete on the biggest stage in international soccer,” he said.
Haitians fans have flooded this southern city hoping to see at least a goal, if not a draw or an upset victory against the African powerhouse that is the sixth-ranked team in the world and had a hard fought 1-1 draw against Brazil.
“You know what, they’re here and that’s huge in and of itself,” said Jacqueline Belizaire, who flew up from Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday night for the game. “Just being able to see them play and seeing everybody; Half the plane coming up from Fort Lauderdale was Haitians. The pilot even said ‘Good night’ in Creole.’ It’s the energy. That’s the real reason we are here.”
This is their first Haiti match, Belizaire said. To mark the occasion, her husband had shirts made: the Haitian national team emblem placed on a pink Polo with Haitian flags on the sleeve. The shirt was her husband’s idea, she said, because he wanted to honor the team in a unique way.
“He wanted something specific so he said, ‘I’m just going to have them made,’ ” Belizaire said.
Morocco supporters are equally psyched about Wednesday’s match up and how well the African champs have been playing.
“We think it’s going to be like 3-1,” said Salma Alami, 25, of Dallas who thinks Morocco can make it to at least the semi-finals if not the finals.
“Maybe we will win,” her “sister” and Greenville, South Carolina resident Chaimaa lahkim , 28, chimed in while insisting “we need a positive mindset.”
This was their first World Cup matches, and they only follow Morocco, they said with pride.
Migné knows that his team is in for a tough match today. But still, he says he hopes he “will be offered the most beautiful exit possible with as a gift at least one point, even three, which would be historic for Haiti.”
Even still he has a number of players, including lead scorer Duckens Nazon, who has yet to take the field during any of the matches and fans are asking why. Migné won’t discuss the lineup ahead of Wednesday’s match but noted that with an opponent like Morocco one has to take into account the characteristics of players “who can respond to this type of opponent.”
“You are talking about a team operating at the highest level of world soccer,” Migné said, acknowledging that the Moroccan coach has done a good job at making it difficult to last against his team. “For us, it is an incredible opportunity to face an opponent of that caliber in what will definitely be a packed stadium We cannot afford to squander such a moment, and we will do everything possible to rise to the occasion.”
This story was originally published June 24, 2026 at 12:49 PM.
