Yes, there was Erling Haaland’s historic five-hit. And of course the clash between Real Madrid and Liverpool. Stories that were widely covered by international media, but far from all the attention, a team from Haiti delivered the strongest performance of this week.
In the American variant of the Champions League – for teams from North and Central America plus the Caribbean – Violette AC eliminated Austin in the 1/8th finals.
A huge stunt, because Austin is one of the strongest clubs in the MLS. The core has a total market value of 49 million euros, while Violette has a value of barely 150,000 euros.
And there is more: due to a bloody civil war in Haiti, the club had not played a game for 290 days – the competition has been suspended indefinitely.
It is therefore logical that they were not worried about the double confrontation at Austin. In the first leg – played in the Dominican Republic, due to the situation in Haiti – the Americans started with a full B-squad.
They would regret that afterwards. The visitors played disastrously and the Haitians rose above themselves. Partly due to a clumsy own goal, Violette won with a solid 3-0.
However, the bookies still did not believe in Violette’s chances of qualifying. Knowing full well that a warned Austin would turn out with his A-team in the return.
Moreover, nothing seemed to be spared the Haitians.
Due to visa problems, a large part of the core was not allowed to travel to the United States. In the end, only 14 players got on a plane to Texas. As an ultimate emergency solution, the club management also registered a few transfer-free players to fill the bench.
Yet the Haitians once again accomplished the impossible. Despite 35 (!) chances to score, Austin could only hit twice – one goal short, so. Goalkeeper Decius in particular played the match of his life by turning around ten attempts.
Now say for yourself… Football fairytales don’t get any better, do they?
