"I hope he doesn't have to live in Haiti after the World Cup," said Haitian football federation spokesperson Thecieux Jeanty. That single line says more about what's at stake for Woodensky Pierre than any match preview could.
Pierre, a defensive midfielder for Violette AC in Port-au-Prince, is the only player in Haiti's 25-man World Cup squad still based in the country — and he can't get out. His US visa application, along with those of nearly a dozen federation officials, is stuck in a system that's been tightened under the Trump administration's expanding travel restrictions, which now include Haiti.
The rest of the squad is already training in Port St. Lucie, Florida. They play professionally in England, France, Portugal, Canada, and the United States. Pierre trains on a synthetic pitch in Pétion-Ville, one of Port-au-Prince's more upscale neighbourhoods, because his home neighbourhood of Cité Soleil — a seaside slum that has seen massacres, gang rapes, and the recent displacement of over 5,300 people — is exactly as dangerous as that sounds.
A squad that reflects how much has changed since 1974
This is only Haiti's second World Cup. Their first was in 1974, when almost every player in the squad was living and playing inside the country. Half a century later, barely one player still does — and even he can't get a visa to join his teammates.
Pierre is from Cité Soleil. The team's home stadium in Port-au-Prince was deemed too dangerous to use, which is why Haiti played its qualifying home matches in Curaçao. There's a grim coherence to all of it.
Jeanty first spotted Pierre in 2022 on a trip to Honduras for an under-20 fixture. "I saw him as a top-level player," he said. The federation has backed him since, and the squad is reportedly glad to have him. Whether he actually gets to play with them is now a diplomatic and administrative question, not a football one.
The clock is ticking but there's still a window
Haiti's warmup matches — against New Zealand on May 27 and Peru on June 5 — are in South Florida. The World Cup opener against Scotland in Foxborough is June 13. After that comes Brazil in Philadelphia on June 19, then Morocco in Atlanta on June 24.
There's still time for the visa to come through. But every day Pierre spends training alone in Pétion-Ville is a day without team shape, team chemistry, and the kind of preparation a player needs before facing Scotland, let alone Brazil.
If the visa doesn't land in time, Haiti's midfield goes into the World Cup one player light — and one of football's more remarkable stories gets its ending written by a consulate office, not a pitch.
"There is soccer in Haiti," Jeanty said. "It's a country that wants to live."
