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Valour’s Jean-Baptiste, Forge’s Metusala called up to Haitian national team for Nations League

The Fédération Haïtienne de Football announced this week that two Canadian Premier League players will be joining their senior men’s national team for the upcoming Concacaf Nations League matches in early June. Valour FC defender Andrew Jean-Baptiste and Forge FC defender Garven Metusala will both travel to represent Haiti under coach Jean-Jacques Pierre.

For Jean-Baptiste, this will be a much-anticipated return to the national team setup, having not played for his country since October 2019. He has 12 caps since making his debut in 2015, and he has represented Haiti in various competitions including the 2019 Gold Cup — where he played every minute in four of five games, including the quarterfinal against Canada and the semifinal against Mexico. Born in New York, Jean-Baptiste chose to represent Haiti internationally after playing for the United States at the U-18 level.

News of this call-up will be welcome to both Jean-Baptiste and to Valour fans; Jean-Baptiste has played just once for the club in 2022 as he recovers from injury, but his being named to the Haiti squad is likely a good sign.

Metusala, meanwhile, has earned just his second call-up to the Haitian side, after joining them for the first time in March 2022. The 22-year-old born in Terrebonne, Quebec, made his debut on March 27 in a friendly against Guatemala, playing 85 minutes at centre-back.

The Forge defender has continued to impress at the professional level since joining the Hamilton club through the CPL-U SPORTS Draft in 2021. This season, he has played seven games for the side as he establishes himself as key player at the back under Bobby Smyrniotis.

Haiti are in Nations League B, and they were recently drawn into Group B alongside Bermuda, Guyana, and Montserrat. They’ll play four matches in June as they try to attain promotion to League B and automatic qualification to the 2023 Gold Cup (the two prizes for finishing first in your group). Haiti kick things off on June 4 away versus Bermuda, then take on Montserrat at home (though it’ll be played in the Dominican Republic) on June 7. They’ll then play Guyana on both June 11 and 14, with the final two matches of the group stage not scheduled until Spring 2023.