England discovered their final group opponent in this year's Women's World Cup as Haiti triumphed over Chile to qualify for their first ever tournament.
Midfielder Melchie Dumornay got Haiti off the mark on the stroke of half time with a powerful effort into the top corner. The 19-year-old is widely tipped as one of the best young players in the world and is set to join European champions Lyon from Reims in the summer.
Striker Roselord Borgella then spurned a glorious chance to double the Haitians' tally before captain Nerilia Mondesir saw her penalty saved in the 89th minute after a foul in the box from Chile's Isidora Olave. However, Mondesir soon atoned for her miss by setting up Dumornay for Haiti's second goal in the eighth minute of stoppage time.
Maria Rojas pounced on a goalkeeping error to pull one back for Chile but it was too late for Jose Letelier's side who failed to secure a second successive World Cup appearance. The result means Haiti will join the Lionesses, Denmark and China in Group D at the tournament in Australia and New Zealand, which starts on 20 July.
It is an incredible feat from the Carribean nation who are currently ranked 55th in the world and had never previously reached a major global tournament, though their men did qualify for the World Cup in 1974.
Haiti is one of the poorest nations in the world, with more than 70 per cent of the population living in poverty and many still reeling from the devastating 2010 earthquake which killed more than 222,000 people.
Prior to the tournament midfielder Danielle Etienne told ESPN “there’s a lot of unhappiness in the country and football is the joy."
“Being able to qualify to the World Cup would be major," she said at the time. "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.”
Elsewhere, Portugal sealed a 2-1 victory over Cameroon to book themselves a spot in Group E alongside defending champions United States, Vietnam and the Netherlands. Paraguay and Panama will meet on Thursday to decide the final team that will qualify for the World Cup, which will be the first edition to feature 32 teams.
The tournament will be held in New Zealand and Australia from July 20 to Aug. 20.
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