Haiti’s World Cup defender scores treble for Lugano
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LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP):
Haiti’s World Cup defender Hannes Delcroix scored a quick-fire hat-trick to propel Swiss league leaders Lugano to another victory yesterday, almost doubling his career goals tally.
The 27-year-old Delcroix had scored just four goals in club football before netting three times between the 35th and 52nd minutes in a 4-0 win over bottom-placed Lausanne. His two headers and left-footed strike all came from crosses delivered at set pieces.
In Delcroix’s first full season in the Swiss league, Lugano are six points clear after nine rounds and are averaging three goals per game as they pursue the club’s first title since 1949.
Delcroix played every minute of Haiti’s three matches at the World Cup in June, where they lost to Scotland, Brazil and Morocco. It was the island nation’s first World Cup appearance in 52 years.
The Haiti-born centre back switched his international allegiance from Belgium last October, having grown up there. Delcroix represented Belgium at the youth level and made one appearance for the senior team in a friendly against Switzerland in 2020.
Delcroix previously played for Anderlecht and Burnley, where both clubs were coached by Vincent Kompany, who is now in charge of German champions Bayern Munich.