Haiti’s World Cup opener reflects larger Haitian story: the campaign is not over | Opinion

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — Two nights ago, Haiti marked its return to the World Cup tournament for the first time in 52 years with a 1-0 loss to Scotland. If you look only at the scoreboard, that is the entire story: Scotland won and Haiti lost.

That is what scoreboards do. They simplify. History rarely does.

But as Haitian history has taught us well, this was only the first battle. The campaign has just begun.

Even before the opener in Boston June 13, this World Cup group stage felt strangely familiar to me. Before Haiti faced Scotland, I found myself thinking about the Battle of Ravine-à-Couleuvres on Feb. 23, 1802. That day, the Haitian revolutionary army, led by Toussaint Louverture, clashed with French troops under Gen. Rochambeau in a narrow ravine in the Artibonite region, known as Ravine-à-Couleuvres — French for Snakes Gully. The French eventually seized the hills, and the battle was recorded as a French victory.

Yet nobody remembers Ravine-à-Couleuvres simply because of who won the day. It is remembered because of what it revealed: Haiti would not surrender.

The outcome of that battle revealed that Napoleon’s expedition would be far more costly than anyone in Paris imagined. It revealed that the men fighting for their freedom were prepared to make every advance painful.

The French won the ground, but they lost certainty. That matters. Some defeats weaken the loser. Others unsettle the winner. Ravine-à-Couleuvres belonged to the second category.

So does Scotland, in my view.

The scoreboard tells one story. The match tells another.

There were moments when Haiti looked every bit like a World Cup team. There were moments when Scotland looked uncomfortable. There were moments when the ball appeared to strike an arm and play continued. There were hard challenges that seemed to warrant further review that Haiti never received.

I am not interested in relitigating every decision. Soccer supporters have been doing that since the game’s earliest days. But I am interested in what those moments revealed.

Nobody debates a missed handball for days when the other side never threatened. Nobody argues over a potential red card in a match comfortably won. The controversy existed because Haiti mattered. The frustration stemmed from Haiti’s strong presence.

Scotland won, but Haiti was not defeated

Scotland won the match. But the European nation spent 90 minutes looking over its shoulder. There is a difference between defeating an opponent and dismissing one.

That night, Haiti was not dismissed.