Brisbane, Australia (AP) — Despite a narrow 1-0 loss in its opening match of the Women’s World Cup, Haiti treated fans to a spirited performance against European champion England.

The kind of spirit showed was nothing new for a Haiti squad that has faced a difficult journey just to make it to the tournament being co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, arriving for its World Cup debut with no sponsors and no home games to prepare.

The Haitians are representing a struggling nation that had been waiting nearly half a century to play on the game’s biggest stage. Its last involvement was when Haiti’s men’s team played in the 1974 World Cup in West Germany.

“We’re very proud of our performance,” coach Nicholas Delépine said. “We’ve worked very hard and for us it was a huge test. We were very close to England. We were very close.”

Due to violence in Haiti, the team was forced to close its training facilities and play some of its home games in the neighboring Dominican Republic.

After securing one of the last three spots in the tournament with a 2-1 victory over Chile in the intercontinental playoffs in New Zealand in February, the team that is ranked 53rd in the world was given the difficult task of facing England in its first match.

Regardless, Delépine’s team played a direct and physical style that impressed England coach Sarina Wiegman, who predicted Haiti would give a tough time to Group D rivals Denmark and China.

“They were really quick and really athletic,” Wiegman said. “I think the other two countries are going to really struggle with them.”

The Haitians caused trouble for England from start to finish, with several scoring opportunities created by France-based forward Melchie “Corventina” Dumornay. Despite being only 19, Dumornay seemed right at home against her more experienced counterparts.

“It was a great game tonight,” Dumornay said. “It was a very physical game for both teams. England has players that are dangerous but we do, too.”

Haiti was also stubborn in defense, thwarting repeated attacks from England and only conceding after a retaken penalty kick. After an initial VAR review confirmed that the ball touched the hand of Batcheba Louis following an England corner kick, goalkeeper Kerly Théus lunged to her right to save Georgia Stanway’s initial shot from the penalty spot. Theus was judged to have left her line early, however, and Stanway converted her second opportunity in the 29th minute.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere according to UNICEF. The nation was rocked by a devastating earthquake in 2010 that left more than 316,000 people dead or missing and more than 1.3 million homeless.

Organized crime in Haiti has increased over the last decade, especially after the assassination of president Jovenel Moïse in July of 2021.

For players like Dumornay, Saturday's game was a chance to bring some joy to the people of her country and show those watching around the world what she and her teammates are capable of accomplishing.

They will have at least two more chances to do so when they play against China in Adelaide next Friday and against Denmark in Perth, on Australia's west cost, on Aug. 1.

“We know that together we can do a lot,” Durmornay said. “If we can do that against England, we can do anything against anyone.”

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Brooke Evans is a student at the University of Georgia's Carmical Sports Media Institute.

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