Category Archives: Haiti

Preparing for the World Cup in Port-au-Prince

People are getting ready for the World Cup in Port-au-Prince.  This is a country where taptaps are decorated to reflect the drivers’ allegiance (to Brazil or Argentina) or even to honor a particular player, and where cell phone companies put up billboards with the national team that proclaim “One People.  One Passion.  Football!  Together, we’ll… Read More »

Hanging out with Haiti’s U-17 women’s soccer team

Since returning to Haiti in April, I’ve gotten to know several members of the Haitian national under-17 women’s soccer team.  They attempted to teach me a few moves (sternly coaching me on the basics of reception and transmission) and then told me, sweetly, “You’re really good!  You just need to learn to control the ball!”… Read More »

“El Clasico” in Haiti

Laura Wagner, a UNC Anthropology graduate student who was in Haiti during the earthquake (and wrote a searing account of her experience at Salon.com), has recently returned to continue her research there. On Saturday, she took this photograph in Port-au-Prince, in the neighborhood of Delmas 32. The chalk board in front of this damaged building… Read More »

The Consolation of the Goalie

All Things Considered did a piece tonight about the U-17 U.S. Women’s team consolation of the Haitian goalie after their 9-0 victory over the Haitian team. Many of the Haitian players lives’ had been upended by the January 12th earthquake. The goalie had lost her parents in the earthquake, and most of the team members… Read More »

Joe Gaetjens Gets His Due

Alexander Wolff has just written a beautiful piece at Sports Illustrated on Joe Gaetjens, the Haitian footballer who scored the single goal in the 1950 World Cup upset by the U.S. against England. It’s a great piece of investigative reporting and an important tribute to a man whose story has long been either forgotten or… Read More »

The Earthquake in Haiti Strikes Football

One of Haiti’s leading newspapers, Le Nouvelliste, has published this article describing how the earthquake has impacted the football world. The building of the Haitian Football Federation was destroyed by the earthquake, with several meetings going on inside, and numerous people are still unaccounted for. Several important figures in the world of women’s football also… Read More »