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Haiti Earthquake and Football
Topic Started: Jan 20 2010, 12:58 AM (1,128 Views)
Martin
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This message board is our haven away from the everyday problems of the world but it is hard not to think about the devastating loss in Haiti. With such massive casualties I also had been wondering about the effect of the earthquake on football in Haiti.

I found this article stating that the Haitian federation building collapsed while there was a meeting going on there and that at least 30 people involved in the federation were killed, including players, coaches, referees and administrators. The Haitian FA president did survive.

http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=a...ov=ap&type=lgns

I also heard that the Chilean international midfielder Jean Beausejour, whose father is Haitian and was working in the UN building which collapsed, had finally located his father and that he is all right. Beausejour who plays for Club America in Mexico did not play over the weekend as he was at that time still trying to locate his father.

Anybody know of any other stories relating to football and the Haitian earthquake?
Club Sportivo Desamparados
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Mr. Pither
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That is too bad to read about the collapse of the Haitian FA building but not that surprising considering how many buildings did collapse in Port au Prince. I did see on the news last night that the National Stadium is being used in the relief effort, I cannot recall, however, if it is a staging area or is a place where water, food, etc. is being distributed because of it's size and central location.

Good news about Beausejour's father.
P-I-T-H-E-R ...as in Brotherhood, but with PI instead of the BRO and no HOOD
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shelsoccer
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There was an article in the KC Star a couple of days ago about a local, Haitian-born youth coach. Apparently, he coaches one of Haiti's women's teams (U-17, I think) and was scheduled to have a camp last week but postponed it. So, he was safe in KC but was still trying to find out about his players.
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Yogi
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I can not find the article now but a couple of days ago I read on the yanks-abroad.com website that Fernando Clavijo said some of his assistant coaches from when he was coaching Haiti's national team several years back are still missing, they may unfortunately have been among those caught in the federation building's collapse. One of those missing is Frantz Mathieu who NASL fans may recall from his days with the Chicago Sting.
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Martin
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Yogi,Jan 20 2010
11:18 AM
I can not find the article now but a couple of days ago I read on the yanks-abroad.com website that Fernando Clavijo said some of his assistant coaches from when he was coaching Haiti's national team several years back are still missing, they may unfortunately have been among those caught in the federation building's collapse. One of those missing is Frantz Mathieu who NASL fans may recall from his days with the Chicago Sting.

Oh that is too bad, I remember Frantz Mathieu very well, he was a good centerback on those championship winning Chicago Sting teams with Karl Heinz Granitza, Arno Steffenhagen and Pato Margetic.
Club Sportivo Desamparados
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Sammy Maudlin
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I remember Mathieu too, hopefully like Beausejour's father he eventually turns up. The article martin linked stated some players were inside the federation building when it collapsed. Here are the players Haiti used last summer in their 2-2 draw with the US at Gold Cup 2009:

Haiti: Jean Dominique Zerphirin*; Frantz Gilles, Frantz Bertin*, Pierre Bruny, Sirin Vaniel; Ednerson Raymond, James Marcelin, Judelin Aveska*; Mones Chery, Leonel Saint-Preux* (Markorel Sampeur, 84th), Fabrice Noel* (Abel Thermueus*, 79th)

Vaniel and Chery scored Haiti's goals. Those players with an asterisk after their name play, according to Wikipedia, for clubs outside of Haiti. Noel (Puerto Rico) and Saint Preux (Minnesota) play for clubs now in their offseason so it is possible they were back in their home country at the time of the quake. Hopefully these players and their families are safe but the quake claimed victims across all sectors of Haitian society.
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valenciano
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I have not seen any additional articles about any missing from Haiti's football community other than thos elinked here but with the massive amounts of casualties and the fact so many people are still unaccounted for, we may never know entirely who from the Haitian FA are missing. I imagine over the next few weeks we likely will see additional stories on the subject as the media relate how the quake has effected various institions in Haiti.
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valenciano
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Here is something I found on CONCACAF's site about Jack Warner saying CONCACAF and FIFA will help the Haitian federation get up and running again:

http://www.concacaf.com/page/Confederation...1952532,00.html

Quote:
 
Warner proposed moving the federation headquarters to the country's FIFA Goal Project offices in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Croix-des-Boquets, which was opened in 2002.

"Relocation is one step but we cannot wait," Warner said. "We must resume operations. We must take hold of this situation and move forward. The office must resume operations. I will explore options to ensure that the staff resumes duties with compensation as soon as possible." Warner said.

With FIFA already pledging $250,000 to the quake relief effort, Warner said he will personally embark on a food drive for Haiti while submitting a report to soccer's world governing body on Wednesday.

Other initiatives Warner said that will be introduced include urging member nations of the Caribbean Football Union - which is to meet in Trinidad for its annual congress in late February -- to house Haitian players for six months to a year so that they may continue their training until the federation is able to resume full operations.


Meanwhile Haiti's U-17 women's team is training in neighboring Dominican Republic and has confirmed it's participation in next month's CONCACAF's women's U-17 tournament in Costa Rica:

http://www.concacaf.com/page/WUnder17s/New...1953542,00.html

I wonder if the coach of this team is the one shelsoccer referenced in his post above?


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Sammy Maudlin
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FIFA are pledging $3 million to aid the rebuilding of soccer in Haiti,

http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=a...ov=ap&type=lgns
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Iceman778
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FIFA is really a big game and everyone is waiting to watch it because its quite betyer then hiati
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Iceman778
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am a big fan of FIFA and waiting for it
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Yogi
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Ignoring the last two non sensical posts, let us get back to the topic of Haiti's soccer team and their recovery post earthquake. Here is an article about the national team practicing in texas,

http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=ap-haitisoccerteam

They must be playing a home based Argentina team on May 5, as that is a non FIFA date. Good news is the article says no members of the national team died in the earthquake, howeevr, as we have already discussed many federation members died when the federation HQ collapsed during the quake.
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Roosevelt
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The Haitian U-23 team was in Boston on Sunday and took part in a benefit match to help raise money to build a hospital in Haiti. A nice story about the game and the challenges facing Haitian football:

Quote:
 
Since being struck by a major earthquake on Jan. 12, 2010, Haiti’s priorities have been diverted from sports. Now, the country has recovered sufficiently enough to begin preparations for World Cup qualifying.

Many difficulties remain, though, and among those facing the Fédération Haïtienne de Football is finding a place to play, since the national stadium, Stade Sylvio Cator, is being used to house refugees from the disaster.

But the team found a home away from home at Harvard Stadium Sunday. A crowd of 11,513 arrived for a benefit match between the Haitians and Harvard’s squad. And it wasn’t just the size of the crowd — 3,000-plus more than attended the Revolution-Real Salt Lake match Saturday — that was impressive, it was the spirit of the fans at the 0-0 draw.


[continued at link]

http://www.boston.com/sports/soccer/articl...national_sport/
Another day in June, we'll pick eleven for football
We're playing for our lives, the referee gives us f**k-all

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Rufus T. Firefly
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Martin,Jan 20 2010
09:37 PM
Yogi,Jan 20 2010
11:18 AM
I can not find the article now but a couple of days ago I read on the yanks-abroad.com website that Fernando Clavijo said some of his assistant coaches from when he was coaching Haiti's national team several years back are still missing, they may unfortunately have been among those caught in the federation building's collapse.  One of those missing is Frantz Mathieu who NASL fans may recall from his days with the Chicago Sting.

Oh that is too bad, I remember Frantz Mathieu very well, he was a good centerback on those championship winning Chicago Sting teams with Karl Heinz Granitza, Arno Steffenhagen and Pato Margetic.

I did an internet search and found an article that Frantz Mathieu survived the earthquake although he did lose his home and business. I did a little more digging and found this article regarding losses related to football,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of...ake#Individuals

Quote:
 
The Caribbean Football Union reported that at least 30 people with ties to Fédération Haïtienne de Football were killed, including players, coaches, referees, and administrative and medical representatives.[68][69] Among those killed were Alix Avin, head coach of the senior men's team;[70][71] Gerard Cineus former senior team coach;[70] Antoine Craan, one of the first black professional soccer players in Canada and a longtime Quebec soccer official.[72][73] and Jean Yves Labaze, who coach Haiti to the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2007 and coached the national women's team.[70][71] Some 20 others with ties to Haitian football were feared buried in the ruins


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