How Haiti beat the odds to book a place in England's Women's World Cup group | OneFootball

Haiti edged past Chile to qualify for the Women’s World Cup for the first time in the country’s history.

Melchie Dumornay scored twice to give the Caribbean side a 2-1 victory, with a last-gasp goal from María Rojas unable to change the outcome of the inter-confederation play-off.

The final whistle led to joyous celebrations from Haiti, who will now contest Group D at the Women’s World Cup alongside England, Denmark and China.

GiveMeSport Women takes a look at the team's remarkable journey so far, and assesses if they are capable of even more upsets this summer.

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Overcoming the odds

Haiti’s route to the Women’s World Cup was far from simple. The country booked a place in the inter-confederation play-offs after finishing third in their group at the CONCACAF W Championship in July.

This required beating Mexico, a team 20 places higher in the FIFA world rankings than Haiti, who are 55th.

They upset the odds to win 3-0, keeping their Women’s World Cup dream alive despite defeats to the United States and Jamaica.

Haiti’s two inter-confederation play-off matches took place this week in Auckland, and they started the mini-tournament with a confident 4-0 win over Senegal.

A sterner test awaited against Chile, who had received a bye into the second play-off match. The side, ranked 38th in the world, made their Women’s World Cup debut at the 2019 edition.

Haiti capitalised on their underdog status to triumph, however, making history as they did so.

But it wasn’t just on the pitch that Haiti had to overcome adversity.

An abuse scandal was hanging over the players, with former Haitian Football Federation President Yves Jean-Bart having a life-time ban from football for alleged harassment and sexual abuse overturned just last week.

Human Rights Watch hit back at the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s decision to overturn the ban, claiming the investigation had been tainted by interference from Jean-Bart and that several alleged victims were “threatened into silence”.

In addition, 2022 was a year of “unprecedented crises” for Haiti, with gang violence, fuel and electricity shortages, political instability and a cholera outbreak among the issues.

The nation is also still recovering from the 7.2-magnitude earthquake in 2021 that killed more than 2,200 people.

The players had previously discussed how qualifying for the Women’s World Cup would give their country a distraction from the ongoing situation. While this would have been a major motivation for the squad, it could have also heaped pressure on their shoulders.

They showed no sign of being weighed down by events around them, however, and captain Nérilia Mondésir spoke about her delight at being able to provide relief for the people of her nation.

"I feel joy and pride,” she said. “I'm happy we got this qualification because our country, our people needed it.

"They were counting on it. We were focused, we were motivated and that's why I'm happy”.

Underdog status at Women’s World Cup

Haiti will be considered the underdogs in Group D, with all three of their opponents considerably higher in the world rankings.

But the team is stacked with talent, and their performance in the inter-confederation play-offs show they are capable of an upset.

Dumornay is a particular star, and the 19-year-old recently told The Telegraph how she went from playing football barefoot to starring for Reims in Division 1 Féminine.

She signed a pre-contract with Lyon at the start of this year, and will join the eight-time Champions League winners in July.

The young star was named on the 2022 NXGN list of the best young players in the world alongside England and Borussia Dortmund star Jude Bellingham, who congratulated her personally.

While Dumornay is the most high-profile talent in the Haitian squad, it is by no means a one-player team. Kethna Louis, Mondesir and Roselord Borgella have also been in and among the goals for their country.

While it will be a hard task for Haiti to extend their Women’s World Cup journey past the group stages, they certainly should not be taken for granted.