From World Cup hero to Nations League match-winner: Wilson Isidor delivers again for Haiti

Wilson Isidor turned Thursday night at Sabina Park into personal theater, setting up two goals and then heading home a stoppage-time winner as Haiti rallied to beat Trinidad and Tobago 3-2 in the Grenadiers’ Concacaf Nations League opener.

The Sunderland striker opened the scoring himself in the 23rd minute, slipping a pass through for Fafà Picault to convert. Trinidad and Tobago answered through Wayne Frederick’s equalizer in the 31st minute and Levi García’s go-ahead goal in the 59th, appearing to have seized control in new head coach David Badía’s first match in charge.

Isidor had other plans. In first-half stoppage time, he turned provider again, picking out Garven Metusala for the equalizer. Eight minutes later, in the 98th minute, he arrived at the back post to nod home the winner himself, sending Haiti’s bench into delirium and sealing the comeback.

The 26-year-old also rattled the woodwork twice on a single attack during the match, a moment that summed up a night in which nearly everything he touched carried a threat.

“I gave two assists and scored the winning goal,” Isidor said afterward. “We know Costa Rica will be a tough opponent on Monday, but we’re going to give it our all,” he added

Thursday’s showing extended what has become a stunning international breakout for Isidor. In just seven caps, he has now been directly involved in six goals, three scored, three assisted.

The masterclass builds on two moments that had already made him a fixture of the Grenadiers’ recent history. At this summer’s World Cup, Isidor supplied the signature highlight by unleashing a thunderous strike from distance to briefly pull Haiti level at 2-1 against Morocco in Atlanta before Haiti fell 4-2.

His first goal in a Haiti shirt had come months earlier, in a March 31 friendly against Iceland in Toronto. Playing just his second match for the Grenadiers, Isidor ran onto a pass from Frantzdy Pierrot and finished from close range in the 88th minute to salvage a 1-1 draw.

Between the wonder strike in Atlanta, the late leveler in Toronto and Thursday’s two-assist, one-goal masterclass in Kingston, Isidor has quickly become the player Haiti turns to when the moment demands it. With the Grenadiers set to face Costa Rica on Monday in their next Nations League match, the question is no longer whether Isidor can deliver again, it’s simply when.