Low in ranking, small in stature, but big in heart.
Haiti’s diminutive goalkeeper Kerly Theus is ready to stand tall and continue her Women’s World Cup heroics against China in Adelaide on Friday.
Theus, who is one of the shortest goalkeepers in the World Cup at 162cm, received widespread acclaim as she thwarted European champions England time and again in Haiti’s group D tournament opener.
The only goal she conceded in the 1-0 defeat to the Lionesses came courtesy of a retaken penalty.
Things don’t get any easier for world No.53 Haiti, and Theus will be expected to work overtime against China as both sides fight to keep their hopes of a knockout-stage berth alive.
“I am still the same, I've seen the messages but our objective hasn't been reached,” Theus said.
“We had a match against England but we had a mentality that we are here to win.
“The first game is over but we have the China match and we are going to give 100 per cent for China.”
Haiti boss Nicolas Delepine said Theus had already proved her worth for his side and indicated her size didn’t matter to him because of her excellent work in other areas of her game.
“Any coach is looking for good players who are up to speed and Kerly is really good during high-profile matches,” said Delepine.
“We are very happy for her and she’s very confident (and) I think the greatest strength about her is that she's able to make the right choices.
“The match against England only counts if we face China in the same way.”
China will be desperately seeking to win given they lost to Denmark in their tournament opener.
The Danes face England in Sydney in Friday’s other game in group D and Lionesses boss Sarina Wiegman has urged her side to be more ruthless after a rusty showing against Haiti.
"We talked about when you are coming into the final third and having the connections right," Wiegman said.
"We've worked on that again and we had a couple of days and it has looked really good.
"What do we have to do to create chances and to score goals?
"That's what we're talking about all the time and at the end we hope that the ball gets in the back of the net."
Earlier in the day, South Africa and Argentina will meet in group G in Dunedin with both teams coming off opening losses, to Sweden and Italy respectively.
