From Kerala To The USA: Former ISL Player Duckens Nazon Plays For His National Team, Haiti

XtraTime Newsdesk: When Duckens Nazon replaced Ruben Providence on the field in the 67th minute of Wednesday's Brazil-Haiti match, Indian football Twitter lit up like a thousand Christmas trees at the same time.

For Indian football fans, 32 year old Nazon was famous for his stint with the Kerala Blasters in 2016. Yes, he is one of the few ISL(former or current) players to represent their country in the World Cup. A young Nazon sporting the Kerala Blasters' yellow shirt had arrived in India back in 2016. With the support of his fervent home crowd in Kochi, he was an explosive forward in the ISL, finding his feet and pursuing long balls.

The journeyman's career, which included playing in Iran, Belgium, and even England, benefited greatly from that time in India.

His journey to the World Cup in North America was nothing short of miraculous. A few months earlier, he and his family had been thrown into survival mode when imprisoned in Tehran due to a regional crisis that blocked the skies.

He finally managed to escape to join his national team which had qualified for its second World Cup, having played the showpiece 52 years earlier in 1974. They also played their home qualifiers on neutral islands as it was too dangerous to play in Port-au-Prince.

Now, Haiti’s all-time leading scorer with 44 goals, Nazon watched his team play from the bench in the first two games.But on Wednesday evening, the fourth official held up the substitution board. Nazon crossed the white line. He didn’t just step onto the pitch but carried the hopes of a resilient Caribbean nation and etched his name into football trivia — from the shores of Kerala to the grandest stage in North America.

Already out of contention for the Round of 32 after losing their first two Group C games against Scotland (0-1) and Brazil (0-3), Haiti lost their third straight game when they went down 2-4 to Morocco in Atlanta.

Though Haiti bowed out after a brave defeat to the African giants, Nazon nearly capped the night with a fairytale ending, forcing a spectacular late save from Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou.

Nigerian Emeka Ezeugo was another player who had played in India’s top flight back in the 1980s before participating in the 1994 World Cup, which was also held in USA. Ezeugo played for East Bengal in 1986 before switching to Mohammedan Sporting in 1987. He later played for Mohun Bagan in 1997.