Haiti have been playing their ‘home’ matches 500 miles away in Curacao.
Sixteen of Haiti’s players were born abroad, across five countries. The 26-man squad represents 25 clubs from 15 countries.
The man who has woven these threads into a coherent outfit is Frenchman Migne, who was Cameroon’s assistant coach at Qatar 2022.
“He’s a magical coach,” said Midy.
“When I’m watching the games of Haiti, I cannot explain how he does it. I asked him, he said, ‘It’s not me, it’s the players. I don’t have no secret. I just tell them put your heart in it.'”
And that is exactly what Nazon, who was born in France to Haitian parents, does.
His passion for the nation has earned him hero status, regardless of his 44 goals in 80 games, according to Midy.
“We call him the chuchu of Haiti,” he says, referring to the French term of endearment.
“Haitian people always see in him, an example of someone who feels more Haitian than every person born and raised in Haiti.”
His team-mate Hannes Delcroix, the former Burnley defender, was born there but was adopted by a Belgian family when he was two.
He has never returned and only in recent years has established contact with his mother and sisters.
“I have never seen them before in real life, but through the phone, we call now and then,” he said. “It’s a strange feeling in the beginning of course because you don’t have any bond, any connection.
“I think I just wanted to know first if she is OK, she is healthy, if everyone is safe. If there’s anything I can help, this kind of stuff.”
Perhaps this reconnection with his biological family is what moved him to pledge his international allegiance to Haiti in 2025.
“You come to a point that you ask yourself, what do you want now and for which country do you want to play? And for me, that case was Haiti,” said the 27-year-old, who played once for Belgium in 2020.
The cynical view is that Delcroix may only have picked Haiti because they were on the brink of World Cup qualification, but he says it has become a voyage of self-discovery.
“It was always in the back of my head that I could play for Haiti. The first time when we got together, I felt like I was not alone,” he said.
“When I’m with the Haitian team, it helps a lot to understand more about the culture and the language. I don’t speak Creole so that’s something I really want to dig into.”
