Haiti Tersingkir dari Piala Dunia 2026 Setelah Kalah dari Brasil

Tim nasional Haiti dipastikan menjadi tim pertama yang tersingkir dari Piala Dunia 2026 setelah mengalami kekalahan telak 0-3 dari Brasil pada pertandingan kedua Grup C di Stadion Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, pada Sabtu, 20 Juni 2026.

Kekalahan ini merupakan yang kedua bagi Haiti setelah sebelumnya ditumbangkan Skotlandia 0-1, sehingga membuat mereka mengemas nol poin dan tidak mungkin mengejar posisi untuk lolos ke babak 32 besar karena aturan head-to-head klasemen.

Dua gol dari Cunha serta satu gol dari Vinicius Junior memastikan kemenangan Brasil, yang kini memimpin Grup C dengan empat poin disusul oleh Maroko dengan empat poin dan Skotlandia dengan tiga poin, sementara Haiti akan menghadapi Maroko di laga terakhir mereka.

Sebelum pertandingan berlangsung, bek Brasil Gabriel Magalhaes menekankan pentingnya timnya untuk bangkit setelah hasil imbang 1-1 melawan Maroko di laga perdana.

"We know what we have to do. We know that we didn't have a good first match, but what we can expect from us is that we'll be really committed tomorrow and we're going to do our best to win," ujar Gabriel Magalhaes, bek Brasil.

Gabriel menambahkan bahwa seluruh tim telah melakukan evaluasi mendalam dari pertandingan sebelumnya.

"It wasn't the match we wanted, but this is in the past and we've learned from it." kata Gabriel Magalhaes, bek Brasil.

Pelatih kepala Brasil, Carlo Ancelotti, juga mengonfirmasi adanya perubahan dalam susunan pemain utamanya demi membangun ketangguhan tim.

"Getting off to a good start is important in a World Cup, but the most important thing is that the team, rather than being perfect, has to be resilient," kata Carlo Ancelotti, pelatih kepala Brasil.

Di sisi lain, kehadiran pendukung Haiti memberikan atmosfer luar biasa di Stadion Philadelphia, salah satunya Maxence Jeanty yang mengenakan pakaian militer abad ke-18 meniru Jean-Jacques Dessalines.

"I am his spirit — I cannot be him but I am his spirit." kata Maxence Jeanty, pendukung Haiti.

Jeanty menceritakan pengalamannya tumbuh di Haiti dan bagaimana kelolosan ini sangat berarti besar bagi dirinya setelah sekian lama.

"Everybody wants to take a picture," Jeanty berkata. "I grew up in Haiti and saw the 1994 World Cup and we were always cheering for the teams and I'm at the point in my life where i'm cheering for my home team. This means a lot. The moment we qualified, I bought all three tickets, and started putting this (uniform) together."

Dia juga menambahkan bahwa pertandingan melawan raksasa sepak bola seperti Brasil menaikkan derajat mereka di pentas internasional.

"When I grew up in Haiti, there were two big factions: Argentina fans and Brazil fans." kata Maxence Jeanty, pendukung Haiti. "Today it means a lot to us because we're stepping on the pitch not as fans but as equals. That's why the energy is so far up.

We've evolved, we've stepped up our game to be able to do this. That's why you are feeling all this energy."

Seorang pendukung asal California, Kai Etienne, mengungkapkan bahwa partisipasi Haiti di Piala Dunia adalah sebuah kebanggaan besar di tengah situasi sulit di dalam negeri.

"If Haiti weren't in the World Cup, we'd all be rooting for Brazil," ujar Kai Etienne, pendukung Haiti. "It's a pleasure to be here and it's an honor to spar with them on equal footing."

Etienne berharap momen positif ini bisa membawa pengalaman baik bagi warga Haiti di mana pun berada.

"Haiti haven't been here since the 70s," kata Kai Etienne, pendukung Haiti. "It's a big deal for our country especially with what's going on right now — a big source of pride and a light at the end of the tunnel where we can bring a positive experience to Haitians both in the country and as part of the diaspora. Take that positive and move it forward."

Hubungan baik antar-suporter juga dirasakan oleh pendukung Brasil asal Porto Alegre, Antonio Smith, yang menyinggung sejarah bantuan emosional dan militer Brasil kepada Haiti.

"Why Haitians can love Brazilians other than this game — because in the very early times Brazil's army was there to protect them," ujar Antonio Smith, pendukung Brasil. "There was a big connection because we supported them in the worst occasions like hurricanes, earthquakes, and other things. I think they like ourselves, our style."

Sementara itu dari Grup D, Amerika Serikat bersiap menghadapi Australia di Lumen Field, Seattle, di mana manajer tim AS, Mauricio Pochettino, memberikan perkembangan mengenai pemulihan cedera betis Christian Pulisic.

"It’s evolving much better from Friday when this thing happened," kata Mauricio Pochettino, manajer tim AS. "Christian is strong, with a great mentality, and he’s making a fantastic effort to try to be ready as soon as possible."

Australia sendiri datang dengan kepercayaan diri tinggi setelah mengalahkan Turki 2-0 di laga pertama mereka.

"We know that we want to earn our respect," ujar Popovic, pelatih Australia.

Popovic menegaskan bahwa timnya memiliki target besar untuk membawa sepak bola Australia ke level yang lebih tinggi.

"We know that by our performances we can put Australian football on the world map, and that's what we aim to do." kata Popovic, pelatih Australia.

Pada laga lain di Grup C, kapten Skotlandia Andy Robertson menyuarakan tekad timnya untuk mengukir sejarah baru lolos ke fase gugur setelah mengamankan kemenangan atas Haiti.

"We want to be the first team to be able to do that for our country," kata Andy Robertson, kapten Skotlandia.

Robertson mengaku sangat bersemangat memimpin rekan-rekannya demi mencapai target tersebut.

"It's obviously a nice feeling to try and do that." kata Andy Robertson, kapten Skotlandia.