Preview: Haiti vs Peru - prediction, team news, lineups

Haiti’s preparations for the 2026 World Cup will conclude on Saturday when they face Peru at Nu Stadium in Florida.

The two nations meet for the first time since June 2016 when Peru legend Paolo Guerrero scored the only goal in a slender 1-0 victory at the Copa America group stage.

Match preview

Haiti are gearing up for just their second ever World Cup appearance this summer and their first since 1974 after progressing through two group-stage campaigns in CONCACAF qualifying, winning six, drawing two and losing two of their 10 games in total.

The Caribbean island concluded their qualification campaign with back-to-back victories without reply against Costa Rica (1-0) and Nicaragua (2-0) in November 2025, and they have since had mixed success in friendly fixtures in 2026.

During March’s international break, Haiti travelled to Toronto for two friendlies against Tunisia and Iceland, narrowly losing 1-0 to the former before holding the latter to a 1-1 draw. Sebastien Migne’s side have since returned to winning ways with an emphatic 4-0 victory over New Zealand in Florida on Tuesday.

Ruben Providence’s early opener was followed by second-half strikes from Lenny Joseph, Frantzdy Pierrot and Markhus Lacroix as the 82nd-ranked nation in the world eased to their biggest international win in 12 months.

That statement victory sent out a message to their World Cup opponents Scotland, Morocco and Brazil, particularly the former who will lock horns with Haiti in their opening Group C fixture in Massachusetts on June 14.

Although Peru are ranked 29 places higher than Haiti in the FIFA World Rankings, they will not be competing at the newly-expanded 48-team World Cup this summer, after enduring a disappointing CONMEBOL qualification campaign.

The South American outfit suffered 10 defeats in their 18 qualifiers (W2 D6) and finished ninth in the 10-nation standings with only 12 points, eight points adrift of the inter-confederation playoff spot and 16 points behind the top-six automatic qualification places.

Scoring goals proved to be a major issue for Peru, as they netted just six times across their 18 matches, fewer than any other CONMEBOL nation. However, since the sacking of head coach Oscar Ibanez in October 2025, La Blanquirroja have shown signs of improvement in the final third.

Peru have found the net five times in their last six matches (all friendlies), scoring twice in two of those, though their only win during this period was a 2-0 success over Bolivia in December last year.

Since the appointment of former Brazil boss Mano Menezes in January, Peru are yet to celebrate victory, with a 2-0 friendly loss to Senegal during March’s international break followed just a few days later by a 2-2 draw with Honduras in which they conceded a 94th-minute equaliser.

Haiti form (all competitions):

Peru form (all competitions):

Team News

Haiti boss Migne used a total of 22 players in their four-goal victory over New Zealand and he is likely to manage the minutes of his squad in a similar fashion on Saturday.

Goalkeeper and captain Johny Placide could earn his 80th international cap either from the start or as a substitute, while Carlens Arcus and Martin Experience - who both play their club football in France with Angers and Nancy respectively - are contenders to begin in defence.

Wolves midfielder Jean‐Ricner Bellegarde and Sunderland striker Wilson Isidor are both likely to feature in some capacity, as is key attacker Duckens Nazon, who has scored a record 44 goals in 77 games for his country.

As for Peru, centre-back Miguel Araujo and forward Alex Valera have both been forced to withdraw from the squad due to injury. 18-year-old Maxloren Castro has since been called up by Menezes.

A total of 18 members of Menezes’s squad have less than 10 international caps, but experienced trio Pedro Gallese, Yoshimar Yotun and Andre Carrillo have earned a whopping 362 caps between them and they are all in contention to play this weekend.

Kenji Cabrera, Adrian Ugarriza and Jhonny Vidales will all be competing for starts in attack and are hoping to score their first goal for Peru, while 19-year-old Bassco Soyer scored as a substitute on his international debut in December and could make his full debut against Haiti.

Haiti possible starting lineup:

Placide; Arcus, Ade, Delcroix, Experience; Jean Jacques, Simon; Etienne Jr, Bellegarde, Providence; Nazon

Peru possible starting lineup:

Gallese; Sonne, Garces, Barco, Lopez; Yotun, Noriega; Carrillo, Soyer, Cabrera; Ugarriza

We say: Haiti 2-0 Peru

Peru are in a period of transition as a footballing nation and must pose a greater threat in the final third if they wish to compete at a higher level. Whether they can break down a spirited Haiti outfit, who have kept four clean sheets in their last seven games, remains to be seen, though.

Keen to deliver another positive performance in their final friendly before the World Cup, Haiti should field a strong lineup that will have enough quality to overcome a fairly inexperienced Peru side.

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