FOXBORO, Mass. — It’s always dangerous to borrow history from one sport and apply it to the goings-on in another sport. But let’s take a shot anyway. As in: Longtime Boston Red Sox fans who were in attendance for Scotland’s 1-0 World Cup victory over Haiti on Saturday night could easily have found a reason to root for either club.The match, played at the temporarily rechristened “Boston Stadium,” marked only the second time Haiti has been on the World Cup stage, and its first since 1974. This is the ninth time Scotland has been in the World Cup, but its first visit since 1998. Scotland has never advanced beyond the group stage.Fans of the pre-2004 Red Sox, having grown up with ceaseless reminders that their team had been longing for a World Series championship since 1918, can relate.And then there’s Sheila Phicil, 39, a first-generation Haitian-American who has lived in the Boston area since 2008. She’s been around Boston long enough to have heard leftover whispers about the whole “1918” thing, just as she’s aware of Haiti’s limited World Cup presence, but this night was about none of that.“This is more than a game,” Phicil said, just minutes before everyone stood at attention for the anthems — Haiti’s “La Dessalinienne” (The Song of Dessalines) and “Flower of Scotland.” “It’s a chance to see Haiti shine without the editorial about our poverty and what’s wrong with us and what we don’t have and how broken our country is.”Instead, Phicil said, “We can actually see a group of people who (for them) it doesn’t matter that they can’t play a game on their home turf. It doesn’t matter that a lot of these players are children of immigrants. A lot of them weren’t even born in Haiti. The coach has never set foot in Haiti. But they’re here, representing everything they had to do to get on the field because Haitian lives matter.”“I know what it’s like to be marginalized,” said Sheila Phicil, a Boston native who, like a lot of the Haitian players (and coach), wasn’t born in Haiti (Steve Buckley / The Athletic)That’s the part of the discussion that separates Haiti, and Haitian soccer fans, from fans of any American sports team, be it the Boston Red Sox or the Biloxi Shuckers. And it’s what separates Haiti from the Scottish opponents they battled Saturday night. Whatever the outcome of this match, and however the World Cup ends, the Scots will have an old sod to return to. It’s so much more complicated with Haiti, a club mostly made up of players born outside the country. And it’s true: Their coach, Sébastien Migné, has never set foot in Haiti.And Sheila Phicil? She was born and raised in Orlando, where her parents, Erode and Maculeuse, both Haitian-born, still live. Phicil is proud to be American and enjoys living in Boston. A self-styled “social change futurist,” she holds dual master’s degrees in public health and financial economics. “I know what it’s like to be marginalized,” Phicil said. “But at the same time, I have experienced the best of this city. I have been blessed by it and protected and nurtured by it. I have been healed by it … I don’t have family here, but I’ve always had connections.”At Boston Stadium Saturday night, Phicil was able to connect with Haiti in a way few of us could understand. She’s not a huge soccer fan. She’s a huge Haiti fan.“The energy has been amazing,” she said. “It’s electric. Just walking to the parking lot to get here, that’s a whole experience. You’re seeing people from Scotland, you’re seeing people from Haiti. We are here. Haitians are here representing our country, and it’s beautiful to see. We met a woman from Scotland who said she’s rooting for the Haitian people.”What the Haitian people didn’t get Saturday night was a victory. The only goal of the match was netted by Scotland’s John McGinn, whose shot through a crowd at the 28th minute deflected off a Haitian defender and past goaltender Johny Placide. And the stadium rocked, which was no surprise given The Tartan Army’s presence throughout Boston over the past couple of days. It’s been incredible: Turn your heading just about any direction and you’ll find a very happy-to-be Scottish fan. And Gillette Stadium — sorry, Boston Stadium — was alive with bagpipe music Saturday night. This was a home game for Scotland. But Haiti was in the house, and Haiti was heard. Disappointed? Of course. Haiti played well enough to win, but missed shots — notably a header by Melrose, Mass., native and former Northeastern University standout Frantzdy Pierrot that went wide.Had it not gone wide, maybe we would have had a different outcome. Haiti forward Frantzdy Pierrot reacts after missing a chance to score on a header against Scotland (Franck Fife / AFP via Getty Images)“With Haiti, nothing is ever easy,” Migné said. “If we are to qualify, it will be a struggle. Maybe it will happen in the last few minutes of the third game.”Haiti’s next opponent is Brazil, and then Morocco. It’s not clear if Migné was limiting the discussion to soccer when he said “nothing is easy” for Haiti, but in the grand scheme of things, well, he’s right. Nothing is easy.But while the pro-Haiti turnout wasn’t as big or as boisterous as Scotland’s, it was an opportunity for those who made it to Foxboro to be among friends, to make new friends, to sing, to celebrate. In that spirit, they were all home again.