It’s already been viewed more than 30 million times on Twitter alone. The embarrassing sequence that ended Haiti’s hope of playing in the 2022 World Cup.
Les Grenadiers defender Kevin Lafrance kicked the ball back to his goalkeeper Josué Duverger. But the ball rolled under Duverger’s foot. Duverger quickly stepped back to stop the ball from entering the net, but he miss-kicked it into the net.
“Jesus! The Haitian goalkeeper Duverger killed us,” Le Nouvelliste reporter Robenson Geffrard tweeted. “He missed the ball in front of the net and the ball went in. We’re dead.”
Haiti’s fairytale ended then. Canada scored two more goals to eliminate Haiti out of the World Cup Qualifiers. Cyle Larin and Junior Hoilett scored Canada’s other goals in the 74th and 89th minute respectively.
Duverger, who is Canadian-born, played the game because starting goalkeeper Johny Placide could not travel to Chicago since he had not quarantined for the 14 days required after leaving Europe.
When asked why he couldn’t play Placide told Total Mix Radio that it was the Haitian Football Federation’s fault.
“The organization,” Placide said. “They have simply been catastrophic since we arrived. “The organization. Everything from A to Z.”
Haiti’s fairytale started in 2019 after they went against all odds and finished the Gold Cup in third place.
Haiti then won its first three World Cup qualifiers in 2021 before holding Canada to a 1-0 win in the first leg.
Since the hopes were high for the new look Haitian side, getting eliminated is proving to be unbearable for the Haitians and their fans across the globe, both Haitians and non-Haitians, who cheered for the underdogs.
Haiti hasn’t played in the World Cup in 47 years. Les Grenadiers have a chance to redeem themselves as they will look to qualify for the Gold Cup in a game versus Saint Vincent and the Grenadines July 2.
But as for now Haiti is trending across the soccer news outlets’ social media pages for scoring a goal on itself.