HAITI will host Nicaragua in the first leg of the CONCACAF Gold Cup play-off following the results of the draw held at CONCACAF headquarters in Miami, Florida.The Grenadiers who booked a spot in the play-off after claiming the Caribbean Cup fifth spot, will kick things off on March 24, before moving to Nicaragua for the second leg of the competition.
The series will determine the 12th and last Gold Cup berth, which kicks off on July 7 at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey. The 11 qualified teams are: Canada, Mexico and the United States, Curacao, French Guiana, Jamaica and Martinique, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras and Panama.
The Haitians could be confident of their chances to progress based on recent form and record over the Central Americans.
Ahead of the qualifying match, Haiti and Nicaragua clashed four times. Three of the matches were friendly matches. It is the Grenadiers who lead the way with two victories. The first of those came on February 28, 1950, in Guatemala City, where Haiti won 4-2. The second and last victory of the Haitian team against Nicaragua came in March 18, 1967, in Tegucigalpa, at the CONCACAF Championship.
On that occasion Haiti won the encounter 2-1. The most recent matches between the countries came in 2004. The first of those encounters took place in January at the John Leonard Stadium in West Palm Beach, Florida (USA), and it ended in a 1-1 draw. About a month later, at Estadio Independencia, Esteli in Nicaragua there was still no winner with the game ending in an identical scoreline.
The Grenadiers, 69th in the FIFA rankings, have won four of the last five games played, including a 5-2 win over Guyana, Jamaica 2-0, St Kitts & Nevis 2-0, Suriname 4-2 and Trinidad 4-3. Nicaragua have won one of their last five games.