Haiti will make their ninth appearance at the Gold Cup beginning on Sunday when they battle Qatar from NRG Stadium in Houston.

The Haitians earned a spot in this competition by capturing the group on the B side of the CONCACAF Nations League, while the 2022 World Cup hosts are a guest team, having claimed third place in the 2021 edition of the Gold Cup.

Match preview

Les Grenadiers enter the 2023 Gold Cup in sparkling form, having cruised through their group at the recent Nations League B competition, going unbeaten with 16 points from six matches, scoring more goals than any team on that side of the bracket (22).

Unfortunately for Jean-Jacques Pierre, though, an unbeaten run that lasted over a year was not enough to keep him on as manager, with Gabriel Calderon Pellegrino inheriting what may well be the best crop of Haitian players ever to feature for the national team.

Two years ago, this team failed to replicate their success from 2019, finishing third in a group which featured Canada and the United States, the two finalists from the recent Nations League A tournament.

Pellegrino brings an experienced squad to this competition, with all but four players currently featuring at club level in Europe and only two uncapped players being selected.

It has been over a dozen years since they last battled Qatar, winning their only previous contest against them by a 1-0 score in November 2010.

The Haitians have not played a side outside of CONCACAF since 2021, when they defeated Jordan in a friendly played in Bahrain (2-0), while Les Grenadiers have won or drawn two of their previous three games played against Asian opponents.

Their first World Cup campaign may not have gone as they had hoped, but Qatar have been impactful on the continental stage, making it into the knockout portion of the last Gold and Arab Cup, while they enter the upcoming Asian Cup competition as the defending champions.

The experienced Carlos Queiroz will be tasked with taking this team to the next level, and he earned his first victory as coach last week over Jamaica (2-1), while their previous match against New Zealand was abandoned when Kiwi players refused to return to the field after Michael Boxall had allegedly been racially abused, and no action was taken.

Two years ago, the Maroons illuminated many of their Gold Cup opponents, notching 12 goals from their first four matches, but they could not penetrate the American backline as they narrowly lost 1-0 in the semi-finals thanks to a late goal from Gyasi Zardes.

Qatar have only suffered two defeats versus CONCACAF opponents since the start of 2021, with their previous one coming in September 2022 against Canada (2-0).

Their 2023 Gold Cup roster consists entirely of players featuring domestically in the Qatari Stars League, though 13 of them have fewer than 10 caps for the national team.

Since a semi-final run at the 2019 Gulf Cup, Qatar have only suffered one group stage defeat on the continental stage, topping their 2021 Gold Cup group with seven points.

Team News

Wilde-Donald Guerrier can draw even with Johny Placide for the seventh-most caps all-time with Haiti should he feature in each of their group fixtures.

Duckens Nazon and Franztdy Pierrot are the only players to have scored multiple times for the Haitians in this competition, notching seven and six respectively, with the Maccabi Haifa forward just two strikes away from matching Jean-Philippe Peguero for fourth all-time, while Guerrier can surpass Alexandre Boucicaut and move into a tie with Jean-Eudes Maurice for seventh all-time in goals should he find the back of the net on Sunday.

Les Grenadiers added some attacking quality by selecting Fafa Picault, who had 18 goals in two seasons for the Houston Dynamo before joining Nashville SC, as he, Garissone Innocent, Jayro Jean and Danley Jean Jacques were the only uncapped Haitian players chosen for this tournament.

At the previous Gold Cup, Maroons striker Almoez Ali was the top goalscorer netting four times, while Akram Afif had a pair of strikes, with the former just one away from surpassing Mansour Muftah for the most ever with Qatar.

Meshaal Barsham was in goal for all five of their 2021 matches in this competition, posting two clean sheets, while Mahdi Salem, Abdullah Marafee, Mohammed Al Nuaimi, Yousef Aymen and Jassim Al Hail will all be seeking their first caps with the Maroons.

Hazem Amed and Mohammed Muntari found the back of the net last Thursday as they held onto a narrow victory over Jamaica with Salah Zakaria making three saves in his second appearance for the national team.

Haiti possible starting lineup:
Duverger; Arcus, Alexis, Ade, Guerrier; Jacques, L. Pierre, Alceus; Nazon, Picault, Etienne

Qatar possible starting lineup:
Barsham; Al-Rawi, Kheder, Salman, Ahmed; Assadalla, Fatehi, Madibo; Alaaeldin, Muntari, Ali

We say: Haiti 1-2 Qatar

The Haitians have plenty of quality individuals, but they have not played together as long as the Qatari squad, who have some equally potent attacking players to choose from, and we believe the Maroons' continuity will get them through this match.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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