Haiti will try to end a lengthy losing run against the USA when they face the Americans in their opening match of the Gold Cup from Children's Mercy Park on Sunday.

The Americans have won six of their seven competitive matches this year, while Les Grenadiers scored three first-half goals versus Bermuda earlier this week, as they qualified for this competition for a second successive campaign.

Match preview

United States head coach Gregg Berhalter pictured in December, 2020 © Reuters

With just one loss in seven matches so far this year, Gregg Berhalter and the United States will be brimming with confidence heading into this competition.

The Yanks have won their last seven matches played against teams in the CONCACAF region, including a thrilling extra-time victory against Mexico in the CONCACAF Nations League final, so there is no reason to believe that this team cannot make it all the way to the final for a third successive time.

Berhalter may not have picked the best players available, but they are still among the most talented squads in this competition, with 19 of their 23 players currently featuring in Major League Soccer.

The 2019 runners-up in this tournament have not conceded a goal in their last five group stage matches at the Gold Cup and are unbeaten in their last eight fixtures against the Haitians.

Playing in front of their home fans will be an added bonus to this squad, who have not lost a game within their own country in over two years, with their last defeat coming in a friendly on June 9, 2019, 3-0 to Venezuela.

Since that defeat, they have maintained six clean sheets on home soil and outscored their opponents 40-4 in their last nine home fixtures.

As they prepare to make their eighth Gold Cup appearance, Les Grenadiers will be an intriguing team to watch, having just qualified for this tournament earlier this week with a 4-1 win over Bermuda in the play-off round

After being eliminated from World Cup qualifying by Canada, their sole focus will be to have a solid showing in this tournament, after reaching the semi-finals two years ago.

Manager Jean-Jacques Pierre, a former Haitian international player himself, has chosen a mix of players who play in Europe and some currently involved in Major League Soccer, so it will be interesting to see how they gel as a unit.

When this team play to their potential, they can be extremely dangerous, scoring 10 goals in two games in the play-off round to qualify for the Gold Cup, and scoring 13 times in all of their World Cup qualifying matches before being shut out in two straight games against Canada.

Haiti have won their last five games in which they have scored first, but they are winless in their last six fixtures where they have conceded the opening goal, although before that streak they did pull off a famous comeback victory in the 2019 Gold Cup, beating Canada 3-2 in the quarter-finals after trailing 2-0.

USA form (all competitions):

Haiti form (all competitions):

Team News

Haiti forward Duckens Nazon on July 7, 2015 © Reuters

Berhalter gave the majority of his players who are currently playing in Europe a rest for this competition, including attacking midfielder Christian Pulisic, who became the first American to capture the UEFA Champions League this past season with Chelsea.

The other Americans who will not be a part of this competition include Manchester City backup keeper Zack Steffen, Borussia Dortmund winger Giovanni Reyna and Werder Bremen striker Josh Sargent.

The Yanks may be high on talent but they will be short on experience with five players yet to earn an international cap, including Donovan Pines, Gianluca Busio, Matthew Hoppe, James Sands and Eryk Williamson.

The US will want to keep a close eye on Frantzdy Pierrot, as the Guingamp striker scored a hat-trick against Bermuda to get Haiti into this tournament, while his partner in attack Duckens Nazon is second all-time in international goals for his country with 29.

Nazon and Pierrot led the team with two goals each in the 2019 Gold Cup, while goalkeeper Brian Sylvestre, who was born in the US, made his first career start for Haiti in their play-off with Bermuda, replacing the Canadian-born keeper Josue Duverger.

Winger Derrick Etienne will be familiar with most of the American players, having played his entire senior career in Major League Soccer, and currently featuring for the Columbus Crew, where he helped them to the MLS Cup in 2020.

USA possible starting lineup:
Turner; Bello, Zimmerman, Pines, Cannon; Busio, Roldan, Lletget; Hoppe, Dike, Lewis

Haiti possible starting lineup:
Sylvestre; Experience, Geffrard, Lafrance, Arcus; Alceus; Pierre, Etienne, Saba; Nazon, Pierrot

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We say: USA 2-1 Haiti

The US are unbeaten in their last 13 group stage matches in this competition, and they have never lost their opening group game since this tournament went through a formatting and name change in 1991.

Haiti have not beaten the Americans since a 1-0 triumph in a friendly in 1973. However, when they do play them they seem to keep the match close, with five draws, while narrowly losing their last match against them, 1-0 at the 2015 Gold Cup.

Top tip

Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting under 3.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.

Written by
Joel Lefevre

Data Analysis

Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a USA win with a probability of 59.5%. A draw had a probability of 22.4% and a win for Haiti had a probability of 18.11%.

The most likely scoreline for a USA win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.69%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (10.82%) and 2-1 (9.86%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.65%), while for a Haiti win it was 0-1 (5.75%). The actual scoreline of 1-0 was predicted with an 11.7% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted a 1-0 win for USA in this match.