Haiti and Turkey, both of which reached the World Cup finals after years of struggle, have been confirmed as eliminated from the group stage after just two matches.
Haiti suffered a 0-3 defeat to Brazil in their second Group C match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, held at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on June 20 (Korean time). Haiti had also lost 0-1 to Scotland in their opening match on June 14. The Caribbean island nation reached the World Cup finals for the first time in 52 years since the 1974 West Germany tournament, but the gap in ability on the world stage was wide. Half a century ago in West Germany they scored two goals, but in this tournament they finished both matches without scoring.
Sitting bottom of Group C with two losses (zero points), Haiti still has a final match against Morocco on June 25, but their elimination is already confirmed. Even if Haiti beats Morocco and Scotland loses to Brazil, leaving both teams level on three points, Haiti cannot finish third in the group under the head-to-head record rule applied for the first time at this tournament. As a result, Haiti became the first team among the 48 participants to have its elimination confirmed.
Turkey, which qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time in 24 years, also suffered a bitter defeat. Turkey, made up of players who star at Europe's big clubs such as Hakan Calhanoglu (Inter Milan), Arda Guler (Real Madrid) and Kenan Yildiz (Juventus), had been considered one of the tournament's dark horses. Expectations had grown that they might stir up another sensation following their semifinal run at the 2002 Korea-Japan tournament 24 years ago. But they showed the worst finishing ability, failing to score a single goal despite taking 62 shots, and tasted defeat in succession to Australia (0-2 loss) and Paraguay (0-1 loss).
In particular, in the match against Paraguay held that day, Paraguay's ace Miguel Almiron was sent off due to the newly introduced "Vinicius Rule" (a regulation under which a player who covers his mouth while speaking during a confrontation with an opponent is sent off), giving Turkey a numerical advantage against 10 men, but the goal never opened. With two losses as of that day, Turkey can no longer advance to the round of 32 even if they win their remaining match against the United States.
The two teams will conclude their tournament with Haiti facing Morocco and Turkey facing the United States, both on June 25. Haiti is determined to claim its first-ever win at the World Cup finals, while Turkey aims to avoid the humiliation of losing all its matches.
