Saudi Arabia Edge Haiti 1-0 in Historic Gold Cup Debut

Photo: SPA

Saudi Arabia won their first-ever Gold Cup match on Sunday night, beating Haiti 1-0 in a tough game. With this win, Saudi Arabia moves to second place in Group D, just behind the United States. Haiti is now third, ahead of Trinidad and Tobago.

This was the first time Saudi Arabia and Haiti played against each other, so no one knew what to expect. Saudi Arabia is the only team invited from outside the region in this year's Gold Cup. The team has been doing well in Asia, including a strong 0-0 draw against Japan in March. Under their coach, Hervé Renard from France, they have improved a lot and now rank 58th in the FIFA world rankings.

Haiti, ranked 83rd, has also shown good form recently, with big wins over Aruba (5-0) and Puerto Rico (3-0). However, both teams lost their World Cup qualifiers earlier—Saudi Arabia lost 2-1 to Australia, and Haiti lost 5-1 to Curaçao. Still, both teams have made it to the final round of qualifiers later this year.

Haiti started strong in the match. Duckens Nazon had two early chances but couldn't score. Saudi Arabia was missing eight key players because of Club World Cup duties with Al Hilal, which made it harder for them to settle in.

But in the 21st minute, Saudi Arabia got a penalty after a foul in the box. Saleh Alshehri calmly scored, putting the ball into the bottom left corner past Haiti’s goalkeeper Johny Placide.

That goal woke up the Saudi team, who then started creating more chances. They almost scored a second goal, but it was ruled offside.

Haiti didn’t give up. They played tough and almost scored after a great pass from their goalkeeper to Nazon. But Frantzdy Pierrot took too long to shoot and missed the chance. By halftime, Haiti had taken 10 shots, with three on target, while Saudi Arabia had just one shot on target—their penalty goal.

In the second half, Haiti kept control of the ball and pushed forward. Nazon sent in several crosses, and another chance between Nazon and Pierrot almost ended in a goal, but Pierrot’s shot was poor.

Haiti kept attacking with energy and had a great chance in the 80th minute when Pierrot was through on goal, but he was called offside. In total, Haiti was caught offside seven times in the match due to Saudi Arabia’s smart defending.

Placide, Haiti’s goalkeeper, made three great saves in the last 15 minutes to keep his team in the game. In extra time, Pierrot got one more big chance, but Saudi defender Abdulelah Al-Amri made a perfect tackle to stop him.

Both teams will play again on June 19. Saudi Arabia will face the United States, a team that recently ended a four-game losing streak with a huge 5-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago. The two teams have a bit of history, with their last game ending in a 0-0 draw before the 2022 World Cup.

Haiti will take on Trinidad and Tobago, a team that has had mixed results recently—a 4-0 loss to Ghana, a 6-2 win over Saint Kitts and Nevis, and then a 5-0 loss to the U.S. Haiti and Trinidad have a long history, including a thrilling 4-3 win for Haiti in 2017.