In its first competitive matches since the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the U.S. men’s soccer team will play its two-legged fixture against Haiti next month without having to leave home.
On Thursday, Concacaf announced that the USA will open the “away” leg of the two-game, total-goals-wins encounter in the quarterfinals of its 2026-27 Nations League tournament against Haiti Nov. 14 at Nu Stadium in Miami. The decisive rematch follows three days later at Cincinnati’s TQL Park, with the series winner advancing to the four-team Nations League finals in Los Angeles next March.
With Haiti unable to host the game on home soil because of ongoing security concerns in the country, the first match between the USMNT and Les Grenadiers was originally scheduled for the same Saturday in Kingston, Jamaica. Following an appeal from the Haitian Football Federation, Concacaf — the sport’s governing body in North and Central America and the Caribbean — granted the FHF an exemption to host the match in South Florida, home to the largest Haitian expat population in the United States.
| vs. Haiti (1st Leg) | Nov. 14 | Nu Stadium (Miami) |
| vs. Haiti (2nd Leg) | Nov. 17 | TQL Park (Cincinnati) |
Below FIFA guidelines, aggressive two-leg worldwide contests usually can’t be performed completely throughout the borders of one of many competing nations. Concacaf pointed to the distinctive challenges in Haiti in explaining the rationale for its choice in a press launch.
“Below this distinctive association, the FHF could also be permitted to play its designated house matches in Concacaf-sanctioned competitions within the territory of its opponents, somewhat than being restricted to the Caribbean area as required below the present laws,” it learn. “This flexibility will stay in place for so long as the safety state of affairs in Haiti persists.”
Nu Stadium, the glowing $1 billion house of Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami, opened earlier this 12 months. The Stars and Stripes will meet a Haitian aspect there that’s coming off its first look on the FIFA World Cup in additional than half a century. Drawn into a gaggle containing Scotland, 2022 semifinalists Morocco and five-time champion Brazil, Les Grenadiers misplaced all three video games.
But FIFA’s 84th-ranked nation has by no means been a straightforward opponent for the No. 16 U.S. Whereas the USA has gained every of the final three conferences between the groups — together with through the first spherical of the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup — every was by a single aim.
