{"id":1890,"date":"2026-06-13T19:37:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T19:37:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1890"},"modified":"2026-06-13T19:37:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T19:37:20","slug":"haiti-fans-pick-up-the-beat-as-52-year-world-cup-hoodoo-ends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1890","title":{"rendered":"Haiti fans pick up the beat as 52-year World Cup hoodoo ends"},"content":{"rendered":"
BOSTON, Massachusetts, June 13 (Reuters) – Haiti fans brought their Carnival groove to downtown Boston on Saturday ahead of their team’s first World Cup match since 1974, competing with the bagpipes \u200bof Scotland’s Tartan Army which has set up camp in the city.<\/div>
A traditional rara \u200cband of bamboo trumpeters and thumping percussion players struck up a beat in Copley Square in the centre of Boston, home to the third-biggest Haitian community in the United States.<\/div>
“We’re going to pull it off \u200btonight, no disrespect,” yelled Lovely Patrick, leaping around in excitement. She left the Caribbean \u200bisland when she was 14 to move to the United States and \u2060was joined on Saturday by her 19-year-old son.<\/div>
Haiti, ranked 83rd in the world by FIFA, \u200bmore than 40 places below Scotland, are hoping to improve on their sole previous appearance at \u200bfootball’s global showpiece event 52 years ago when they lost all three of their group games in Germany.<\/div>
With five-times world champions Brazil and 2022 semi-finalists Morocco also in Group C, Scotland offer the best route \u200bto points for “Les Grenadiers” who have bolstered their team with two players of Haitian heritage \u200bwho have played in England’s Premier League.<\/div>
The competition also provides a chance for Haiti’s fans – both at home \u200cand \u2060among the diaspora – to put aside temporarily their worries about the deep problems besetting the Caribbean island where more than 1.4 million people have been displaced by violence and instability, according to the International Organization for Migration.<\/div>
In the United States, the hardline anti-immigration stance of President Donald \u200bTrump’s administration has created \u200bfurther concerns. On Friday, \u2060a Pennsylvania medical examiner said a Haitian woman’s death from hypothermia after her release by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in March was a \u200bhomicide.<\/div>
Ruthzee Louijeune, a member of the Boston City Council and the \u200bdaughter of \u2060Haitian immigrants, said the political backdrop was weighing on the community’s ability to celebrate the World Cup fully while a U.S. travel ban on people entering the country from Haiti had prevented some \u2060fans \u200bfrom attending the matches.<\/div>
“Has it put a dampener on the \u200bmood? Yes. But is it going to stop us? Absolutely not,” Louijeune said. “We are still here. We are still \u200bjoyous. We are still going to root for our team.”<\/div>