The lights went out, but the fans didn't budge. When they came back on, the whipping wind sent rain sideways. Even by Concacaf's lofty standards, the weather in Managua for Nicaragua's World Cup qualification match against Haiti last month was wild.
"It was pissing rain. The fans were going crazy every single lighting strike. At one point it was raining so hard, I couldn't see where the keeper played it on goal kicks," Haiti defender Duke Lacroix recalled.
But Nicaragua's supporters were unfazed.
"The lights go out, the crowd goes even crazier," Lacroix said. "We come back out, no one moved a muscle. Everyone's still there."
Yet, despite the difficult conditions, Lacroix and Haiti sent the crowd home drenched and depressed. Lacroix assisted the final goal in a 3-0 Haiti victory.
"In order to compete on the road, you have to take pride in silencing those atmospheres," he said.
When Haiti hosts the final match of its FIFA World Cup qualification campaign on Tuesday, the atmosphere will be far more subdued than what it has encountered in three trips to Central America.
In March 2024, Haiti's long-standing national stadium, the Stade Sylvio Cator, was overtaken by gangs, with the Haitian federation putting out a statement confirming it had lost possession of the facility and confirming acts of vandalism. No events have taken place there since then, and it's not clear if or when it may be able to host important matches again. That leaves Haiti without an approved venue, even if peace were achieved.
The country has been enveloped by violence as gangs fill the power vacuum left after the 2021 assassination of president Jovenel Moïse. The United Nations' High Commissioner for Human Rights called the situation an "unending horror story," and that organization's July 2025 report indicated more than 1.3 million Haitians have been displaced as 85% of Port-au-Prince is under the control of gangs.
"People are running away from their homes," said Don Deedson Louicius, an FC Dallas and national team attacker who grew up near the Toussaint Louverture Airport in Haiti's capital. Planes landing there in November 2024 were hit by gunfire, leading to an FAA ban on U.S. flights. He still has family in that area.
"They can't live well, and all the places are closed because of the gangs, and violence is crazy," Louicius said.
Curaçao, a Dutch Caribbean island, has become Haiti's temporary home this fall, with Thursday's game against Costa Rica and Tuesday's game with Nicaragua taking place at the Ergilio Hato Stadium in the capital of Willemstad, more than 500 miles from Haiti.
That puts Les Grenadiers in the same category as teams like Ukraine, Palestine, Belarus and Israel as a nation trying to reach the 2026 World Cup in North America without being able to play at home and the advantages that come with that. In order to qualify, Haiti needs to finish second in its group and have more points than at least one of the other runners-up in the other groups; currently on five points, two wins to go to 11 points may be necessary to reach Canada-Mexico-U.S. 2026.
Still, Haiti's players are determined deliver a World Cup return they believe could change things not just for Haitian soccer but for the country itself.
In World Cup qualification, atmosphere is the great equalizer.
Bolivia is in the intercontinental playoffs to make the World Cup in part because it takes teams to the highest point possible, Estadio de Villa Ingenio in El Alto, which sits 13,615 feet above sea level, to take advantage of the altitude. Even frequent qualifiers aren't immune to the allure of trying to make life miserable for an opposing team. The U.S. men's national team set its February 2022 match against Honduras in St. Paul, Minnesota, earning a 3-0 win in a game in which the temperature at kickoff was 3 degrees. Yes, that's Fahrenheit.
The last time Haiti was able to play a senior national team match on home soil was in July 2021 when it welcomed Canada for a World Cup qualification match ahead of the 2022 tournament.
Even that was controversial, considering Belize had visited in March for a World Cup qualification match and was rattled when its bus from the airport to the team hotel was held up by a group of armed men on motorcycles. They eventually were allowed safe passage to their hotel, but left only for the match, training by the hotel pool after the scare.
"No human being wants to go through something like that with machine guns pointed at you," Belize captain Deon McCauley said after the incident. "You only have one life to live, and to not know if you're going to live after a scary moment like that? It's shocking."
The team's four-year absence means that as players eligible for Haiti but born abroad have been called up, as many as a dozen of this month's squad are representing the country without having had the opportunity to ever suit up in front of a stadium full of Haitians.
"I've never played in Haiti, but all the guys I talk to that have played in Haiti tell me it makes such a huge difference having your fans, your country behind you, and you really feel it," said Garven Metusala, a Quebec-born defender who made his Haiti debut in 2022. "I guess I feel like we're all used to it now, not playing in front of our fans. I don't think we can use it as an excuse anymore."
While the situation continues to deteriorate in Haiti, some leaders in the country believe soccer must return. The sport gives society an emotional boost, says Marie Elise Obas, the general secretary of the Ligue Haïtienne de Football, the country's leading league, and gives young men work that allows them to provide for their families - just one more economic alternative to joining a gang. Haiti's first division relaunched last weekend, with teams from the capital taking part after several special tournaments featured only clubs from other regions in the country where gang violence has not been as prevalent.
"It's not because things are really getting better, but we're trying to find a way," Obas said. "In Haiti, we have a lot of insecurity, but we still need to live."
Prior to the final round of World Cup qualification, which kicked off in September and ends next week, Haiti's coaching staff and players dreamed of returning home for games in front of their fans. As the country's crisis deepens, though, it wasn't feasible.
In addition to Haiti losing out on local support and the competitive edge, it also dings the coffers of a team that already is at a financial disadvantage compared to most of its rivals.
"The national team is forced to play its matches away, resulting in significant revenue losses," Obas noted.
The longer the team is unable to safely play at home, the more lost revenue adds up. Plus, with many industries struggling during the crisis, Obas said the list of potential sponsors for local clubs and the national team gets shorter and shorter.
Even so, the strong tie between the national team and its fans remains.
"Obviously, for the fans and for me as the coach, I would love for us to be able to play in Haiti. Unfortunately, that's not up to me right now," manager Sébastien Migné said, adding that he encouraged the federation to select an alternate site with a large Haitian diaspora. Canada (especially Montreal), the U.S. (especially Miami) and the neighboring Dominican Republic all tick that box.
But even sites like those have become tenuous for Haiti. At times, soccer has cut through political tensions, with clubs in the Dominican Republic hosting Haitian teams in international competitions for long periods of time. Jamaica recently opened its doors as the training base for Haiti's U17 boys team before their trip to the World Cup in Qatar.
But political tensions have made it difficult for Haiti to source alternative host sites. Earlier this year, U.S. president Donald Trump signed a proclamation that suspended granting visas to Haitians. Exemptions for sports teams for approved events allowed Haiti to take part in the Gold Cup without issue. The Dominican Republic banned entry with a Haitian passport in 2024, with its president Luis Abinader announcing a crackdown on migrants who have managed to enter the DR without documentation.
"It's like a closed door for Haiti everywhere," Louicius said. "So, it's very hard for people who are still in Haiti right now. It's extra very hard."
Much of the support Haiti's players do get from fans comes through a screen. Rather than the cheers of fans braving a rainstorm, they get notifications, voice memos and praise in videos.
"All these (fan) pages, all these fans were sending you positive messages" after the Nicaragua win, Metusala said.
With most fans able to see their team only on TV or an internet stream, the connection with their player comes through social media.
"Even though we're not physically there for them to support us, we feel like we're at home because the support we get over the phone, messages on Instagram, Facebook is big," Louicius said. After the win in Nicaragua, "we got support from everywhere, from Haitians all around the world."
It is through those interactions and conversations with loved ones in Haiti that the players get the sense they may be able to do something remarkable, the notion that if they qualify for the World Cup, it may be a catalyst for transformation in a country that long has been looking for reason to celebrate.
"Talking about this with some other players on the team, we know this could change a lot in the country," Metusala said. "Even if it's political, this could bring a lot of smiles, could change the environment of the country and give a lot of hope to the people. We know Haitians are really passionate, and they really follow the team.
"We want to qualify not just for us, but also to give back to the Haitian people."
Multiple players say that they've talked about the opportunity to create a moment like Didier Drogba's speech for peace after an Oct. 8, 2005 World Cup qualifier that secured Ivory Coast a place in the 2006 tournament.
"There will be a new Haiti. If we do make it to the top, I think there are bad things right now happening in the country that will stop," Louicius said. "That's the way we believe. We think we can be the change for Haiti."
Drogba's words from Sudan, which lasted for less than a minute, didn't end the years-long Civil War. Other factors helped turn the tide and bring peace. But it was a spark, one of several catalysts that came together at the right time.
Haiti does love soccer, with huge groups coming together to watch the matches of beloved Brazil and Argentina squads as well as their own national team, but it doesn't boast a player with the stature of Drogba. Before the team can contemplate that kind of a moment, though, is getting the job done on the field without the physical support of that nation.
"We don't have something magical we're going to do and change everything in two days," chairwoman Obas said. "It's going to take time."