16979: Vilaire: The Promise of Haitian Football (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Vilaire@aol.com

VISHNUSURF@aol.com writes:
<<This is good news for Haitian soccer.  The Under 23 team dominated a
talent-laden, half professional US U23 team in Ft. Lauderdale last week but
were very
unfortunate to lose 1-0.  Clavijo is already making a difference... >>

With all due respect to Mr. Clavijo, he had absolutely no role in the fine
football displayed by the Haitian U-23 side against the U.S. in Fort Lauderdale
last week. The honors for that should go to Coach Carlo Marcelin, a very
disciplined, competent Haitian coach and expert at developing young talent. He has
been in charge of various youth teams for a while now. More importantly, the
accolades for that Olympic team is the result of an ambitious campaign by
Haitian sports authorities to get Haiti into the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Under
that program -- a combination of extensive recruitment, nurturing and intense
training/education for the best players -- Haitian football has had some
success and may very well be on the road to a renaissance. But as we all know,
sports, like everything else, does not evolve in a vacuum. Unless there's a modicum
of political and economic stability, Haiti's football dreams will come to an
abrupt halt -- not unlike those of the Boston Red Sox. In our case, I guess we
can always say "Wait until four years." Go Haiti!

Marx-Vilaire



--------------------------
Marx-Vilaire Aristide
Haitian-American Skills Share Foundation
"Reversing the Brain Drain"
Tel.: 202.265.2088
Fax  202.265.1454
vilaire@aol.com