Haiti eliminated but Morocco offers a shot at history

Eliminated after two matches

Haiti are out of the 2026 World Cup. Brazil beat your team 3–0 on Friday, and results elsewhere made it official, zero points from two games, one match still to play, and no path to the knockout rounds (1) (2).

Brazil did the damage early. Matheus Cunha scored twice, in the 23rd and 36th minutes, and Vinícius Júnior added a third in first-half stoppage time to make it 3–0 at the break (2) (3). Haiti held the line in the second half and conceded nothing more, but the first 45 minutes were enough.

No sparkle from Brazil, the Belgian press noted, but they did not need it (2) (6).

Why elimination came before the final whistle

FIFA's tweaked group-stage rules mean head-to-head results now outrank goal difference. Paraguay's win over Türkiye locked Haiti into bottom spot in Group C regardless of what happens against Morocco (1).

It is a brutal way to go out, eliminated before you even get to the third match.

One more shot at history: Morocco on Wednesday

Sébastien Migné is not treating the last group game as a dead rubber. "Haiti have never had a point in this competition," the coach said. "The players can keep writing Haiti's football history and their own. It's a symbolic match for us" (2).

Fifty-two years since Haiti's last World Cup appearance. No goals scored yet in this tournament. Morocco on Wednesday is the final chance to put a number on the board and bring home something real.

Port-au-Prince showed up anyway

Fans gathered in Port-au-Prince to watch the Brazil match together. Elimination was already in the air, but the crowds still came out, the first World Cup in over half a century, and people were not going to miss it, even on a tough night (2).

Fan reactions

A strange statistical quirk caught the eye on r/soccer: every goal across all four Group C matches on Friday came in the first half. Brazil's three against Haiti, Morocco's winner over Scotland, Paraguay's opener against Türkiye, and both goals in USA 2–0 Australia, all done by halftime. Full thread here.