Haiti must take belief from narrow Scotland defeat, says coach Migne

Haiti's debut World Cup appearance ended in a narrow 1-0 defeat against Scotland, but coach Sebastien Migne urged his team to take belief from their performance. The Caribbean nation, making their first World Cup appearance since 1974, were beaten by John McGinn's first-half goal.

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On one hand, I'm very proud of what the boys showed tonight. It was a very good showing, with some good football.

Despite the loss, Haiti pushed the Scots hard, creating late opportunities. Frantzdy Pierrot headed narrowly wide in the 85th minute and threatened again in stoppage time, showing their potential to compete at the highest level.

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When you know where we're coming from, we rose to the challenge, but it makes it that much more frustrating that we came up slightly short.

Migne acknowledged the difficulty of their task, with matches against Brazil and Morocco still to come in Group C. However, he drew parallels with their challenging qualifying campaign, emphasizing that "with Haiti, nothing is ever easy." He believes that if they are to qualify for the knockout rounds, it will be a hard-fought struggle, potentially decided in the final moments of their last group game.

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With Haiti, nothing is ever easy. If we are to qualify, it will be a struggle, and maybe it will happen in the last few minutes of the third game.

The coach also noted the high level of play at the tournament, stating that "just one oversight is enough" and can lead to punishment. He identified a lack of spontaneity in their movement and combinations, along with some poor decision-making, as areas needing improvement. "We'll have to score some goals if we want to have a chance to qualify," Migne concluded.

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We saw some fairly interesting things, but we're playing at an extremely high level, and just one oversight is enough. You can get punished for that.