Haiti Women's National Team Qualifies for Women's World Cup for the First Time as Country Is in Turmoil
With gangs slowly taking over the country and a deadly cholera outbreak, Haiti is currently in chaos. The Caribbean country is desperate need of some good news, and it may have come in an unlikely way as the Haiti Women's National Team has qualified for the Women's World Cup 2023 for the very first time. Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

With gangs slowly taking over the country and a deadly cholera outbreak, Haiti is currently in chaos. The Caribbean country desperately needs some good news, and it may have come in an unlikely way as the Haiti Women's National Team has qualified for the Women's World Cup 2023 for the very first time.

The Haitians defeated Chile to book their ticket to Australia and New Zealand and be part of the Women's World Cup for the first time in the country's history. The men's team qualified for the World Cup in 1974, but the women never had.

According to the BBC, the team is currently ranked 55th in the world and, with their qualification, will be placed in Group D. They are slated to face England, Denmark, and the People's Republic of China in group action.

Portugal was the other team to qualify for the World Cup from the knockout qualifiers when they defeated Cameroon. They may have drawn the short end of the stick, though, as they will be in the same group as the defending champion, the United States, as well as Vietnam and the Netherlands in Group E.

As for the final qualifying match, Panama and Portugal will be facing off to see who is the last team to go to Australia and New Zealand.

Haiti Defeated Chile in Dramatic Fashion to Qualify for Women's World Cup 2023

The qualifying match for the Women's World Cup 2023 was held at the North Harbour Stadium in Auckland, New Zealand. It was quite the drama as Haiti and Chile had a very thrilling and emotional final 15 minutes in a very close match.

According to Stuff, Chile had one of the best female goalkeepers in the world in Christiane Endler. However, it was her future teammate, Melchie Dumornay, who managed to put Haiti on the board first with the team's first goal.

The Haitians struggled to get anything passed Endler, who showed why she was one of the best female goalkeepers in the world. However, Haiti could not be denied as in the 87th minute, Melchie Dumornay sank her second goal, giving Haiti their first World Cup trip for the women.

Chile scored their first goal soon after, but the game was already decided, with the Haitian ladies making history.

Haiti Win to Qualify for Women's World Cup a 'Breath of Fresh Air'

The situation in their country was not lost on its players, with midfielder Danielle Etienne saying, "there's a lot of unhappiness in the country and football is the joy." This victory comes as an unprecedented crisis is rocking the country, with a U.N. intervention looming.

"We want that for the country as a whole, to have a breath of fresh air and kind of step aside from anything going on," said Etienne, who celebrated the qualification with her teammates.

Haiti had a very emotional run during the qualifiers in New Zealand, opening with a dominating 4-0 victory over Senegal, according to Al Jazeera News.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Haiti vs Chile Highlights | Women's World Cup 2023 Qualification Final | 2.22.2022 - Micael