In tune up matches preparing for the all important DIGICEL CUP in Jamaica to qualify for the GOLD CUP, on Friday Sept. 15, 2006, in St Marc, Haiti National Team A beat the Dominican Republic 3 - 1. Then on Sunday 17, in the Sylvio Cator Stadium, Haiti National Team A again beat Dominican Republic 2 - 1, according to Joe Namphy. As you know, the Dominican Republic has decided to invest seriously in football and has hired a Serbian Coach to run their program. They are progressing very fast and according to their new European Coach, with all the money they are putting into their program, they should be at Haiti's present level within two years. Do not forget that Real Madrid also has had a Youth Academy there for several years.
The National Girls Team won their first game in Trinidad 3-0 and lost the second game to Jamaica 3-0.
The game in Montreal never happened because of conflicting schedules and visa issues. When Joey Saputo called Joe Namphy to offer him the game against Montreal Impact on Saturday 16 or Sunday 17, as a tune up match to keep his team in competition before his first playoff game against Vancouver which eliminated Miami (4-1) on Friday and (2-0) yesterday. In the meantime, Dominican Republic was to play Haiti on Tuesday 12 and Thursday 14 in Haiti. They called Haiti and asked to change the games to Friday and Sunday because the U.S. Embassy in the D.R. was going to interview their players for U.S. visas on Wednesday the 13th. That created a conflict with the Montreal game. "So, I proposed that we push the game to Wednesday in Montreal," added Joe. But Montreal has to play Friday and Sunday their playoff games, and the Canadian Embassy in Haiti had not yet even bothered to answer the Montreal Impact who had requested the visas for the Haitian team. So Mr Saputo called Toronto Lynx instead and played a game on Saturday without having to cross borders.
" The business of soccer is a very complicated and expensive business, and it is even more complicated when you add Haiti's problems and idiosyncrosies and lack of financial support from anywhere to the equation. Haiti has no airline connections Montreal Impact is operating on a U.S.$3.5 million dollar yearly budget and is the second most successful franchise in the United Soccer League after Rochester, averaging 12.500 spectators per game," said Joe.
Remember on September 3, 2006, HAITI beat the TNT SOCA WARRIORS 3-0 in Brooklyn, New York. The goals were scored by Wyn Belotte (3rd minute and 6th minute) and Rudi Lomera (70th minute) in front of only 220 people.
According to Joe Namphy, a faithful supporter of Haitian sport, before the game, the Haitian Veterans called the Masters coached by Jean Claude Desir, better known as Tom Pouce, played a friendly entertaining game against the Trinidadian Veterans.
In the "piece de resistance", the Haitian Diaspora Selection took control of the game from the start and scored two quick goals by Wyn Belotte from Montreal assisted by Rudy Lomera. Haiti made good use of its midfield which controlled the ball 65% of the time with great circulation of the ball using the whole field.
Rudi Lomera from Fort Lauderdale scored the third goal in the 70th minute on a brilliant pass from Wyn Belotte who pulled and froze the Trinidadian defense on the left side of the field and crossed the ball to Lomera on the right side for the finish. Rudi calmly dribbled the goalie and pushed the ball in the empty net. The same two combined for a fourth goal five minutes later, but that one was disallowed by the referee for off side. Then a penality was allowed to the Trinidadian side, but the Haitian goalie Dextra from St Marc(now New Jersey) stopped it by guessing and diving in the right direction.
Wyn Belotte was born in Montreal 21 years ago from Haitian parents from Petionville. He played for the Canada U 17 team that eliminated Haiti from the World Cup U 17 three years ago in South Carolina. However, since he has never played for Canada's National A team, according to FIFA rules, he can still elect to play for Haiti and has. He has played in Norway and Poland under developmental contracts. Rudi Lomera has trained and played in Argentina for two years.
Needless to say that financially the game was a disaster, but some good things came out of this very expensive event:
1. After the game, two scouts sent by the Columbus Crew coach offered Rudi Lomera, our right winger, a ticket to the Big Stage. He is flying to Columbus in the morning to go negotiate a professional contract to become the fifth Haitian in Major League Soccer. I predict that within two years, he will be playing in Europe, like Pierre Jean Jacques.
Haiti beat also Napoli F.C. 2-1 (Sept. 8) at Falcon Field, New Britain CT and tied Danbury United 1-1 (Sept. 9) at Portuguese Cultural Center, Danbury CT.
We will go play these games to expose our players to more professional scouts and increase their experience and advance our evaluation of the Haitian talent available everywhere. The Haitian Team stayed at the Five Star Holiday Inn in Plainview, Long Island, and was taken care of by Gerald Jean, the very capable insurance executive in Long Island, former great player from Victory, S. C., and the National Team. Gerald was the producer of the game and made all the arrangements for the Stadium, Old Boys High School in Brooklyn, the hotel, the local transportation, security, referees, etc...He was the teammate of Jean Michel Malenkov, Gary Perrin, Missolo Chrispin, Carrasco, Dr. Raphael Alexis, Reginald Vielot, Ronald Pun, Yves Joseph, and Ernst "Ze Nono" Jean Baptiste who fielded and coached the team with Dr. Kesler Dalmacy on the brench.
So, if you believe that we are going in the right direction and deserve to be supported, please do not hesitate to contact Joe Namphy for more details and sponsorship packages. "We are not going to stay idle and wait for manna to fall from heaven or for the Haitian Government to assume its role and responsability to start investing in our youth and in sports", Joe added.
With very limited support from some sponsors, friends and football fans who are backing our BACK TO AFRICA MOVEMENT, our National Team A qualified for the next round at the DIGICEL CUP held in Jamaica after beating St-Vincent and the Grenadines as well as St-Lucia on Sept. 27, 29. They lost one game against Jamaica on Oct. 1, 2006 but will play Martinique, Cuba and Surinam in Martinique in November. The team is trained under the direction of Coach Carlo Marcelin and the "SUPER MOTIVATOR" Ze Nono Jean Baptiste.
"We want to show to all the sectors of Haitian Society that in Haitian Football, we are combining the talents and resources of both Haiti and the Diaspora to achieve our goal, which is to take Haiti BACK TO AFRICA IN 2010, and make every Haitian proud of being Haitian, whether they live in Haiti or abroad," Joe Namphy stated. "We are one nation that stands united to carry our flag to all the countries where football is played. We are making a serious effort to really live our motto, "L'UNION FAIT LA FORCE," he added.
The U-17 category is already the Champion of the Caribbean by defeating Trinidad last month 1-0, Barbados 5-0, Surinam 7-1, St Marteen 10-0 and Cayman Islands 5-0. The U-17 is now qualified for the World Cup in 2007.
Under the leadership of the President of the Federation, Dr. Yves (Dadou) Jean Bart, Julio Cadet, vice president and Lionel Desir, secretary general, we now have nine national teams training and preparing for different competitions at CONCACAF, CARIBBEAN FOOTBALL UNION and FIFA. We have five men's teams and four girls teams, Under 17, Under 20, Under 23, National Team A and also Under 15 for the men.
This is an extremely ambitious program being maintained without hardly any support from the state or the Haitian private sector, with some generous exceptions. Countries like Jamaica, Trinidad, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Mexico, United States and Canada, our direct competitors in CONCACAF, have annual budgets ranging from $10 million dolllars for Cuba, Jamaica and Trinidad, to $150 million dollars for Mexico and the United States.
We are very fortunate to have found DIGICEL, an Irish company, as a sponsor of the 16 clubs of the National Division and the Men's National Team A for the next four years. But obviously, that is not enough to support nine national teams. We need at least ten (10) or twenty (20) more sponsors to follow the example of DIGICEL and invest in our young people in an area where they have already proven they have the talent to make it to the top. We did it in Germany 1974. We can do it again.
But it is going to take money, lots of it. In 2004, Trinidad's private sector and Diaspora added $20 million dollars to the government's $10 million to qualify Trinidad to the last World Cup in Germany 2006. They hired Dutch coach Leo Benhakker for $1.3 million dollars per year. Trinidad chartered a Boeing 747 to fly its team to Bahrain for the last game that qualified them to Germany 2006.
Guatemala, which has never qualified for the World Cup, just committed $10 million dollars to the Federation and hired Colombian Coach Hernan Dario Gomez for four years at one million dollars a year to qualify Guatemala to the 2010 World Cup. Coach Gomez qualified Colombia for France 1998 and Ecuador for Germany 2006 and took Ecuador to the second round last June.
Dominican Republic, which lost two friendly games to Haiti last week, 3-1 in St Marc, and 2-1 in PAP, now has a Yugoslav/Serbian Coach signed for four years who told us that within two years he will have the D.R. National Team at today's Haiti level. Real Madrid is supporting a Football Academy in the D.R. with Spanish coaches.
Puerto Rico has a Professional Team, the Islanders, playing in the United Soccer League, with Miami, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Rochester, Atlanta, etc..., the League we want to join.
Everybody in our neighboorhood is investing big bucks in the game of football, Haiti cannot stay idle and expect to perform miracles every time.
For the DIGICEL CUP, we have pulled all the stops. We are bringing in six of our professional players to Jamaica, including Fabrice Noel from Colorado Rapids, Stephane Guillaume and Jamil Jean Jacques from Miami F.C., Pierre Jean Jacques from Nantes F.C., Josue Mayard from Norway and Marc Herold from France. These tickets are not cheap, neither is the chartered flight to Jamaica, and FIFA helped us in getting the respective clubs to liberate the Haitian players for our National Team. Any contribution to the cause would be greatly appreciated. We still have a lot of needs.
You are going to start hearing some new names of young Haitian players that may explode during the Digicel Cup's games. ST-Vincent and the Grenadines as well as St-Lucia qualified for the GOLD CUP of 2007. We are not taking any game for granted.
Thanks to DIGICEL, all the games will be broadcast live over Radio and Television to all the 20 islands serviced by DIGICEL, including Haiti.
THIS IS A RENDEZ VOUS WE CANNOT MISS. WE ARE BACK ON THE BIG STAGE. HAITI MUST PREVAIL IN FRONT OF SUCH A LARGE AUDIENCE AND ESTABLISH SUPREMACY OVER ITS NEIGHBOORS. GO HAITI. UNTIL 2010.
THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO HAVE SUPPORTED THE NATIONAL TEAM WITH THEIR GENEROUS CONTRIBUTIONS. (Joe Namphy)
See more sport events on haitifoot.com!
Haiti lost 0 - 2 against Jamaica on Sunday, Oct. 1st, 2006, but automatically qualified for the next round of the DIGICEL GOLD CUP, with six points out of six, two victories and 11 goals for and 1 goal against. The Haitian team had tremendous difficulties controlling the game facing the physical pressure of the Jamaican team players who took advantage of it to score their two goals. The Number One goal keeper, Fenelon Gabart, who received a red card during the game against St-Lucia two minutes before it ended, was suspended and wasn't able to play against Jamaica.
The game was broadcasted in Haiti on "Television Nationale" live and on the radio by Radio Ibo in Haiti and Radio Mega in Miami, and on the internet on www.radiomega.net.
Haiti got its two victories last Wesnesday and Friday by beating St-Vincent and the Grenadines 4 - 0 and defeated St-Lucia 7 - 1.
The Haitian delegation arrived in Kingston on board of two chartered flights from Carib Inter. They stayed at the Morgan's Harbour Hotel and Marina.
GO HAITI AND LET US SHOW OUR TRUE COLORS.
HAITI U-20 BEAT BERMUDA 11-1 IN ST MARC.
The decentralization of Haiti has started in football
In the first game of the elimination round for the Canada 2007 U 20 World Cup being played in Haiti, Haiti beat Bermuda 11-1 at the Parc Levelt in St Marc. The score was 4-0 at half time. The game was played at 3:00 PM because there no lights yet at the stadium.
In Stade Sylvio Cator the same night, Jamaica beat Curacao 2-0. Thursday, Oct. 26, Haiti beat Curacao 5-0 in PAP, and Jamaica beat Bermuda 3-1 in St-Marc.
The grand final was played on Saturday, Oct. 28 in a sold out Sylvio Cator Stadium where Haiti U-20 tied Jamaica U-20 0-0, but again qualified for the next round of the Canada 2007 U 20 World Cup because of its superior goal difference (+15 vs +6). Jamaica U-20 has to play the second team from the other group playing in Trinidad to qualify. Only the first team from our group, Haiti, qualified automatically.
Haiti - Bermuda was the first official FIFA game played in a province in Haiti. The people of St Marc really came out and created a tremendous ambiance for the visitors. That was the largest crowd that the Bermuda Team ever played in front of. Thomas Rongen, the U. S. Under 20 head coach was also present to check out his future opponent in the next round (Haiti).
These performances may begin to explain why we believe in the talent of these young Haitians and why we must do everything possible to offer them the same opportunities as their Brazilian or Argentinian counterparts. They must have their chance to reach the level of the professional teams of Europe in three to four years, and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa is the stage where they must get to in order to be seen and be offered lucrative contracts.
Joe Namphy
Haiti is qualified with a tie with Surinam 1-1
on 11-12-06. The triangular games for the Caribbean Digicel Cup eliminatory will take place in Trinidad in the first week of January 2007. Haiti will have to face the Dominican Republic before facing Bermuda. Haiti just acquired a new coach Luis Armelio Gracia, the one who qualified the Martinique team recently. Carlo Marcelin has been promoted National Technical Director and will work along with Luis.
The winner will get a qualifying ticket for the next round of the DIGICEL CUP next year.
It is important to mention that the first two teams of each group will be qualified for the final round. The 3rd team will have to compete in order to progress to a final chance to qualify itself.
The
results of the first games are: Haiti 1 - 2 Cuba; Martinique 1- 0 Surinam.
Friday 10: Cuba 3 - 1 Surinam; Martinique - Haïti 1- 0; Sunday 12: Haïti 1 - 1 Surinam; Martinique 0 - 0 Cuba
The following is the list of the players for the National team A:
Goalkeepers: Gabbart Fénélon of Racing Club Haitien, Normil Yvener
Defenders: Bruny Pierre Richard of Don Bosco, Alain Vuibert of Baltimore, Ednelson Raymond of Baltimore,
Roosevelt Wish of ASC,
Warlike Panel of Victory
Middle field: Peter German of Baltimore,
Mones chery of RCH,
Jean Sony Alcenat of Aigle Noir,
James Marcelin of RCH,
Stephane Guillaume of MIAMI FC,
Jamil Jean Jacques of Miami FC
Attackers: Decius Dumel of Baltimore,
Fritson Jean Baptiste of Aigle Noir,
Leonel Saint-Preux of Zénith,
Mc Herold Gracien of FC Virois in France,
Jean Michel Boucicaut of Violette,
Eliphène Cadet of ASC.
