Haiti’s World Cup opener reflects larger Haitian story: the campaign is not over | Opinion

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — Two nights ago, Haiti marked its return to the World Cup tournament for the first time in 52 years with a 1-0 loss to Scotland. If you look only at the scoreboard, that is the entire story: Scotland won and Haiti lost.

That is what scoreboards do. They simplify. History rarely does.

But as Haitian history has taught us well, this was only the first battle. The campaign has just begun.

Even before the opener in Boston June 13, this World Cup group stage felt strangely familiar to me. Before Haiti faced Scotland, I found myself thinking about the Battle of Ravine-à-Couleuvres on Feb. 23, 1802. That day, the Haitian revolutionary army, led by Toussaint Louverture, clashed with French troops under Gen. Rochambeau in a narrow ravine in the Artibonite region, known as Ravine-à-Couleuvres — French for Snakes Gully. The French eventually seized the hills, and the battle was recorded as a French victory.

Yet nobody remembers Ravine-à-Couleuvres simply because of who won the day. It is remembered because of what it revealed: Haiti would not surrender.

The outcome of that battle revealed that Napoleon’s expedition would be far more costly than anyone in Paris imagined. It revealed that the men fighting for their freedom were prepared to make every advance painful.

The French won the ground, but they lost certainty. That matters. Some defeats weaken the loser. Others unsettle the winner. Ravine-à-Couleuvres belonged to the second category.

So does Scotland, in my view.

The scoreboard tells one story. The match tells another.

There were moments when Haiti looked every bit like a World Cup team. There were moments when Scotland looked uncomfortable. There were moments when the ball appeared to strike an arm and play continued. There were hard challenges that seemed to warrant further review that Haiti never received.

I am not interested in relitigating every decision. Soccer supporters have been doing that since the game’s earliest days. But I am interested in what those moments revealed.

Nobody debates a missed handball for days when the other side never threatened. Nobody argues over a potential red card in a match comfortably won. The controversy existed because Haiti mattered. The frustration stemmed from Haiti’s strong presence.

Scotland won, but Haiti was not defeated

Scotland won the match. But the European nation spent 90 minutes looking over its shoulder. There is a difference between defeating an opponent and dismissing one.

That night, Haiti was not dismissed.

When Scotland stepped onto the field, it was expected to win. The rankings said so. The analysts said so. The betting markets said so. The history books certainly suggested so.

One nation arrived with generations of World Cup experience. The other returned after more than five decades away. One nation belonged to the established order. The other had spent half a century trying to return to the room.

And yet, for 90 minutes, Haiti stood there. Not perfectly. Not victoriously. But undeniably.

That matters too. Before a country can win at this level, it must first prove it belongs there.

That is what Ravine-à-Couleuvres represented. Perhaps that is what Scotland at Gillette Stadium represented as well: a test, a measuring stick, a first encounter and a reminder of the distance still left to travel.

When I watched the match, I found myself thinking less about the score and more about the people watching: Haitians in Boston, Miami, Montréal and Port-au-Prince; Haitians gathered around televisions and phones in bars, restaurants and living rooms.

More than 50 years is a long time to wait for a return. Entire generations lived and died between appearances. My father’s generation remembers the stories. My generation remembers the longing. My sons’ generation will remember participation.

That alone is significant. A country cannot become comfortable on the world stage without first returning to it.

The 1974 team gave us a memory.

Across centuries, the same lesson endures

This team is giving us a future.

The men who fought at Ravine-à-Couleuvres did not know they were helping shape the Battle of Vertières. They only knew they had a battle in front of them. History connected the rest afterward.

That is why I think about campaigns rather than matches.

Scotland was never the destination. Neither was Ravine-à-Couleuvres. The story continues.

Brazil waits. Then Morocco.

Just as the revolution continued after 1802, the campaign moved forward. The stakes grew larger. The opponents became stronger. Eventually, history reached Vertières for the decisive battle on Nov. 18, 1803, which Haiti won.

That day is not today.

Today belongs to Ravine-à-Couleuvres: a narrow defeat, a costly lesson and a reminder of how difficult the road ahead will be.

But it is also a reminder that Haiti belongs on that road.

On the night of June 13, Scotland won. That much is true.

But I suspect Scotland learned something too — the same lesson Rochambeau and his troops learned more than two centuries ago: Nothing comes easily against a people who have spent their history fighting to remain standing.

The score was 1-0 against Les Grenadiers in the first battle.

But the campaign continues.

Grenadye! Alaso!

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