Miami’s Haitian community celebrates the country's first World Cup berth in 52 years

MIAMI (AP) — Members of Miami's Haitian community pressed against a stage on a rainy Saturday to cheer on forward Duckens Nazon, defender Martin Experience and other members of the country's national soccer team ahead of a pair of friendly matches next week.

For a few hours, nothing else mattered for the soccer-loving people of the troubled Caribbean country, which is playing in the World Cup for the first time in 52 years.

“We will show that we are united, no matter what,” Nazon said in Creole, standing in front of a large Haitian flag commemorating Haitian Heritage Month, which is celebrated every May in the U.S.

"I want for this World Cup to be the beginning of a new Haiti,” he said.

Since qualifying for the World Cup for only the second time in the country's history, players have vowed to represent hope and joy for the nation, which has been beset by crisis and instability.

That pride was on display Saturday at an art museum in North Miami, which houses one of the largest Haitian populations in the United States.

Fans draped themselves in Haitian flags and danced to upbeat compas music while children kicked around soccer balls at the small meet-and-greet.

Many were in awe at seeing their country reach soccer's biggest stage again.

"At my age, I’ve listened and read about Haiti being in the World Cup in the 70s but never got a chance to see them play," said 49-year-old Odeline Paul, who has lived in Miami since she was 13. “It is such an amazing event to be here, at least to meet them, and to bring my son to be in this moment.”

Paul said she won't be able to attend any of Haiti's matches. Tickets are too expensive for her to go in person — a dilemma that many soccer fans are running into — but she'll attend one of the watch parties happening in Miami.

She brought her son to Saturday's event so he could learn about Haiti and its tense history.

“To teach about the culture, to teach about what it took for us to be in the World Cup. Now to make it, no words can describe the feeling,” Paul said.

“We are a people of resilience. It doesn’t matter how many times we fall," she added. "We always get up. And that’s my country."

The euphoria of the historic moment — Haiti's only other World Cup appearance was at the 1974 tournament in West Germany — has been amid the backdrop of the violence, hunger and homelessness that the country is grappling with.

Armed gangs control up to 90% of its capital, Port-au-Prince, where the team's home stadium is located, forcing Haiti to play its “home” World Cup qualifiers in the tiny Dutch Caribbean island of Curaçao. And a U.S. visa for the squad's only Haiti-based player has yet to come through as the administration of President Donald Trump continues to expand travel restrictions from countries including Haiti.

For Guensine Ambo, who has lived in Miami for 35 years, the team's qualification was a needed bright spot, regardless of how far they advance.

“This is one of the things that is helping us to come together as a people,” she said. “We are on a high. And no matter win or lose, we are going to stay on this high because it took us 52 years to get here.”

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AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup