By Michael Lewis
FrontRowSoccer.com Editor
At one time, February in Florida was a treasure trove for soccer fans and of course, writers.
Training camps abound and in the southern part of the state, there were even some World Cup qualifiers.
In February 2004, that was the perfect setting for yours truly.
I kicked off my Florida sojourn on the west coast, watching Freddy Adu making his first appearance for D.C. United in an MLS pre-season match against the MetroStars at IGM Academy in Sarasota.
After a few days there covering the MetroStars, I drove through the Everglades and ventured down to the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area for some international soccer. I had the opportunity to cover a couple of World Cup qualifiers that were not USA teams.
Due to violence and its homeland, Haiti was forced to play its 2006 World Cup qualifying first-round series against the Turks and Caicos Islands.
In the first encounter on Wednesday, Feb. 18, the Haitians rolled to a 5-0 victory at the Orange Bowl in Miami as future Red Bulls forward Peguero Jean Philippe tallied the first goal.
In the second game at Ted Hendricks Stadium slightly north in Hialeah, it was more of the same as the Haitians registered a 2-0 triumph to win the series, 7-0.
But that Saturday night, Haiti thought it was safe and far from the chaos that enveloped its homeland, but even the players learned they could not escape the violence’s devastating effects. Only three hours before the match, midfielder Peter Germain discovered his home in Saint-Marc had been burned to the ground during fighting.
“When I first heard the news I cried a lot. Immediately after I had to think about the game,” Germain said. “That was very important. I will have plenty of time to reflect on what is happening back home.”
Germain said his family and friends left town and were safe. “Despite the tragedy, my motivation was to be sure that I played a very good game, to be sure my country qualifies,” he said. “My main focus was on that. The tragedy had to take second place.”
When he became coach, former MetroStars assistant coach Fernando Clavijo, who performed for the USA in the 1994 World Cup, realized he would encounter challenges directing a team from the world’s second poorest nation.
“It never crossed my mind it would be like this,” he said. “It’s incredible.
“If you cannot be concerned with their problems, you cannot be human,” added Clavijo, a U.S. naturalized citizen born in Uruguay. “I feel myself Haitian today. I feel their pain. They are everything we [Haiti] have. We can bring happiness to many people in incredible situations.”
Seven players returned home to their families, but they need to return to Florida before the team’s international friendly in Nicaragua next Sunday.
“It is so hard,” Clavijo said. “If my wife is at home in Haiti, and I have two kids, I will go. I don’t care how bad it is. We cannot kidnap them and keep them here.”
Clavijo’s responsibilities went beyond coaching. “If I do not do the visas today or tomorrow, they most likely won’t be done properly,” he said. “I’m prepared for everything.”
Home financial support has ceased and unpaid training expenses reportedly are at least $200,000.
“The biggest challenge is to anticipate what is going to happen the next day,” said Clavijo, added he was owed salary. “Forget about next month. Every day something new happens.
“The thing that keeps me going is the players. We have a great group. They have touched me. I feel when I look at them that we have an opportunity to do something wonderful here.”
As forlorn the victorious Haitian team was, the Turks and Caicos team celebrated after the match. That’s right, the side celebrated after it was eliminated from the qualifying competition.
The players had an interesting reason — the 2-0 loss was the best result — the national team ever had in qualifying.
Like many things in life, everything can be relative in soccer, especially when it comes to World Cup.
