A night that began as a dream come true for Haiti ended as a nightmare as the Caribbean team were crushed 7-1 by Brazil in their Copa America Centenario game on Wednesday.
Haiti had never featured in the Copa America before and never faced Brazil in an official game, and given the huge popularity of Brazilian soccer on the Caribbean island, the game was one of the biggest in decades for the country.
However, down 3-0 at halftime against a Brazil team who played with freedom and flair, Haiti were unable to avoid a hefty defeat.
Photo: AFP
“It was definitely a historic moment, but it wasn’t a moment unfortunately that we will want to remember,” midfielder Jean-Marc Alexandre said. “It is a bittersweet moment for us.”
The experienced Alexandre, who plays in the second-tier North American Soccer League for Fort Lauderdale Strikers, said he was particularly perturbed by the way the team fell apart later in the game.
“Even at halftime, when we were down 3-0, our spirit was still in it. The early goal affected us mentally a bit, but even at the break we still had hope,” he said. “But in the second half, I felt like we completely lost control of the game.”
Haiti have been making steady improvement in recent years and they qualified for the Copa America after beating Trinidad and Tobago.
Creditable performances against Spain and Italy in pre-World Cup friendlies two years ago boosted confidence and then an impressive CONCACAF Gold Cup campaign last year, where Haiti reached the quarter-finals, confirmed the steps forward.
Alexandre said it was vital that the team did not let the hammering from Brazil dent their faith in their progress.
“This is a lesson: At this high level, teams like Brazil will capitalize on your mistakes and every mistake we made tonight, they capitalized on,” he said.
“It’s an experience for us, and hopefully, we will learn from it,” he said. “If we had mistakes like those against a different team, it wouldn’t have ended up like that — but when you do it against Brazil, it is a different level, a very high-class opponent.”
Alexandre said Haiti, who lost 1-0 to Peru and will finish their group games against Ecuador on Sunday, needed to be realistic in the way they play.
“We have to be more careful with the ball, especially in the final third. We are going to spend most of the game defending in tournaments like these, so we can’t afford to give the ball away,” he said.
ECUADOR-PERU
AP, GLENDALE, Arizona
Miller Bolanos scored the lone second-half goal as Ecuador rallied from a two-goal deficit to tie Peru 2-2 on Wednesday night at the Copa America Centenario.
Three minutes after halftime, Jefferson Montero and Christian Noboa connected on a give-and-go and Montero got behind the defense to find Bolanos in front of an empty net.
In the first half, Paolo Guerrero had two assists in the first 13 minutes for Peru. He played a through ball to Christian Cueva, who spun a defender and powered a shot into the net.
Guerrero had a glancing header on a long free-kick and Edison Flores rolled a shot inside the far post.
Ecuador pulled to 2-1 in the 39th when Enner Valencia trapped a chipped pass near the penalty spot and volleyed a shot.
Peru are tied atop the Group B standings with Brazil. The teams are to meet on Sunday to complete group play.
Ecuador are two points back.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later