![]() And 20 hours later, it spilled onto a field. “The passion,” defender Claire Constant said, “just covered every scared feeling,” replacing nerves with confidence. 17, they spoke in their native Creole about this bigger picture, about uniting for this common cause. When Volker Türk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, visited in February, one week before the qualifying playoffs, he called it all “a living hell.” And soccer, of course, won’t remedy any of it.īut to the Haitian players, all of it imbues soccer with meaning. ![]() Well-intentioned humanitarians have fled out of fear for personal safety and cried out to foreign governments for help. ![]() Their terror has shut down schools and shut off access to basic necessities. They have burned buildings and homes, mostly in the capital. They have gutted the government - there are currently no elected lawmakers in office - and kidnapped, raped or murdered citizens. Over the past two years, ever since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, those gangs have tightened their grip on a country long plagued by colonial legacies and natural disasters, and dragged it down into an even deeper despair. They can’t provide tangible aid or prevent gangs from ravaging neighborhoods. They also knew, though, that they could uplift millions of hurting countrymen and amplify an increasingly desperate message. “That's hurt us a lot,” midfielder Ruthny Mathurin said. They’d all seen the images and followed the news they knew their country had descended into violent, ungovernable chaos. For roughly an hour, they preached about their collective purpose. They locked eyes in this intimate environment and spoke from their souls about an opportunity they’d earned: Two qualifiers that offered a route to the 2023 Women’s World Cup, which would be Haiti’s first.īut they hardly spoke about soccer that night. ![]() They sank onto beds, into one another’s laps, onto the floor. Two dozen of them had piled into one hotel room on Feb. Passion poured out of Haitian players on the eve of the games that meant everything. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |