22984: Antoine: Brazil - Haiti : The demigods and the underdogs (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Guy S. Antoine <webmaster@haitiforever.com>

Brazil - Haiti : The demigods and the underdogs

Is an upset in the making?

According to the Associated Press, "Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
reportedly asked the defending World Cup champions not to run up the score in
the game Aug. 18 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital." That is a pity. This is
akin to asking someone who breaks a bank to set aside the big bills in favor of
small ones. That way, perhaps, common folks will cheer him as a gentle-hearted
Capone or a romantic Clyde. This is not to say that Capone and Clyde might not
have been gentle-hearted and romantic. But in this case, the gift of the gods,
or those that would be gods, is to bring to Haitian soil, like manna from
heaven, demigods with the names of Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Roberto Carlos, Cafu,
Kaka, Adriano, Ze, Renato, Edu, Julio Cesar, Adriano, and a few more for
Haitians to revere in an apparition of mythical proportions in a country where
people are desperate to forget their harsh realities for the briefest of
moments. And what a moment this should be!

I sincerely hope that the Brazilian team will defy Lula and live up to their
exalted status as a well-oiled scoring machine. This is a love affair between
Haitians and Brazilian offensive-style soccer, not a studious approach to the
virtues of the European defensive approach. This is so much more than a friendly
match : it is supposed to be a spectacular. Mercy is counterproductive as it
simply robs adoring fans of moments they could treasure for the rest of their
lives, however wretched. You don't ask the Harlem Globetrotters to please keep
the score under the century mark. You don't put back in the box your most
fanciful firecrackers on July 4. The biggest compliment those demigods could pay
the earthlings that will face them is to (appear to) take them seriously, though
they hardly need to... or so goes conventional wisdom.

In this one-sided extravaganza, the Brazilians have got to understand that the
numerical outcome of the match will likely not be in their favor, unless they
manage to surpass their 9-1 victory over Haiti in the Pan-American Games in
Chicago or their much more modest 4-0 victory in 1974. Anything less than 4-0, I
declare it a victory for the Haitian team. A 4-0 score is a tie, as far as I am
concerned because the Haitian team should be granted four goals, just for
suiting up. And the largest conceivable margin of Haitian victory would be the
appearance of a numerical stick in lieu of an egg, next to the number of goals
scored by the Brazilians, whatever it happens to be.

Remember the hero of that 1974 Italy-Haiti World Cup match is none other than
Manno Sanon. Who the hell cared that Italy rectified the seemingly aberrant
scoreboard three times consecutively in the second half? We had our fill of joy
that day! We surprised the Italians, and the Italian President must have felt
nervous, I am sure, as he had not instructed his goalkeeper to make any gift to
the Haitians. They simply "misunderestimated" us, as the American President
would say. And we showed them. Manno Sanon will live in our hearts forever.

Will there be another Manno Sanon on August 18, 2004?

Of course... without question. Haitians will cheer, not for one country against
the other, but for the craftsmanship, the aesthetics, and the competitiveness of
those who have nothing to lose but the chance of a helicopter ride in the
company of the demigods. Victory is at foot and quite possibly at hand. It will
come as a gift, not from Lula but from an explosion of goals that will be heard
from Cité Soleil to Tierra del Fuego, from La Fossette to Reykjavik.

One of those goals will be ours, signifying our victory. Brazil scores four
goals. Haiti sprints ahead by one. We cut the net, knock down the goal posts.
Game over.

That's my golden prediction for the Haitian Soccer Olympics. No gun fired, no
gun collected. And the Council of Wise Men will nod approvingly.

In the euphoria that follows, Washington will briefly wonder why it did not
unleash its baseball All-Stars alongside the U.S. Marines, but they are puzzled
quite enough already about those Brazilian soccer crazy Haitians.

Guy S. Antoine, editor
Windows on Haiti, http://haitiforever.com