20070: Vishnusurf: Haitian National Team to play USA in Miami on Saturday (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: VISHNUSURF@aol.com

>From The Sun Sentinel:
Coach sticks with Haiti
Jeff Rusnak


March 7, 2004

Even the smallest World Cup qualifier can have an illuminating effect on its
participants. Such was the case with Haiti's 2-0 win over the Turks and Caicos
two weeks ago in Hialeah.

The result pushed the aggregate score for the two-game series to 7-0 for
Haiti, but it was the Turks who were downright giddy with their performance.
Player-coach Paul Crosbie, who scored an own goal in the defeat, talked excitedly
about signs of progress after 8-0, 6-0 and 5-0 losses in previous qualifiers.

The lads, Crosbie declared, would celebrate the milestone with an all-night
party on South Beach.

The Haitians would celebrate quietly, if at all. Coach Fernando Clavijo and
defender Peter Germaine came to a postgame news conference weighted by a
sadness that was incompatible with victory. An emotional Clavijo revealed that
Germaine had played the match after being told his family's home in St. Marc,
Haiti, had been burned down by rebel forces the previous day.

"These are the types of players I have," Clavijo said. "I would have
understood if he didn't want to play."

Despite the latest unraveling of their country last Sunday, when President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide was escorted out of Port-au-Prince by United States
Marines, the Haitians continue to play. Hours after Aristide departed, they managed
a 1-1 draw in a friendly at Nicaragua with just 13 players on the roster.
Next up is the United States at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Orange Bowl.

While Haiti sorts through its latest upheaval, Haitian players have moved
into four-bedroom homes (two players to a room) in South Florida, where they will
prepare for a June 12 World Cup qualifier against Jamaica. Holding it all
together is Clavijo, whose prior soccer life in Uruguay and the United States
didn't prepare him for what he's experiencing with Haiti.

A member of the 1994 U.S. World Cup team, Clavijo took the Haiti job in
October with the hope of instilling order to the national team program. Instead,
his tenure has coincided with a bloody coup. And, like other Haitian coaches
before him, he hasn't been paid for several months. Unlike his predecessors,
Clavijo can't bring himself to leave because his players need him more than he
needs the money.

"Of course, I want to get paid and I want things taken care of," Clavijo
said. "But the situation with players is more important. We have to get things in
order so we can keep going. They need to trust somebody. They've had no one to
trust because in the past everyone has walked away from them."

Clavijo has been deeply affected by his players' resolve in the face of
national tragedy. By staying in a job that rewards him spiritually, if not
financially, Clavijo seems to be saying, if Germaine won't quit, then how can he?

"To be honest, I tried to separate from that but I cannot do it," he said.
"To be a coach you have to be hard-hearted sometimes, but I don't have the heart
to do that. I know the team needs to have discipline and show respect, but
you also have to have a human approach to coaching a team."