BRADENTON, Florida – While the 2019 Concacaf Under-17 Championship quarterfinals includes the region’s usual suspects, like seven-time champions Mexico and three-time winners the United States, there is one fresh face that is taking the tournament by storm: Haiti.
Since the modified format of the CU17 went into place in 2011, never has Haiti reached the Knockout Stage of a CU17 until this edition.
In 2011, Les Grenadiers finished third in the three-team Group A with a 0W-0D-2L record and failed to advance to the knockout round. Two years later at the 2013 CU17, it was the same story with a 0W-0D-2L record and a third-place finish out of three teams in Group C.
At the 2015 CU17, things improved slightly for Haiti, as it capped its Group B campaign with a 4-1 victory over Saint Lucia to finish with a 1W-0D-4L record.
Two years later at the 2017 CU17, there was even more improvement from Haiti as it reached the final match of the group stage with a chance of reaching the next round, only to fall 3-1 to Honduras to finish with a 0W-1D-2L record.
But the story has been much different at the 2019 CU17.
Not only did Haiti qualify for the Knockout Stage, but it did so in impressive fashion. Les Grenadiers won all three matches in the group stage with 12 goals scored and just one conceded.
That momentum carried into the Round of 16, as Haiti registered its third clean sheet of the tournament in a 2-0 win over the Dominican Republic.
Boasting two of the most exciting players in the tournament in the form of Michel Pierre (3 goals) and Fredler Christophe (3 goals), Haiti is poised to reach even higher heights as it prepares for its quarterfinal match-up with Honduras.
After years of steady improvement, the 2019 CU17 has proven that Haiti’s moment has come.
