Haiti v Turks and Caicos

chelsea · #1 (**permalink**) 01-06-04, 10:56 AM

Hello and happy new year to Panoramix and all Haitian football fans!

Some of you may have seen my comments on the Jamaican football site and i am pleased to join your forum here.

As a player in the Turks and Caicos team, it may be interesting for you to learn more about our team etc (without giving away any secrets!) and i would be grateful if you can update me on the preparations of the Haitian team, who i beleive are in Brazil at this time.

Of course Haiti should beat us comfortably and when the draw was made we were a little disappointed that we drew the highest ranked team in pot 'E'. But we are looking forward to the games and simply want to do ourselves justice.

The population here is 20,000 people, but five years ago it was 11,000, the standard of football has gone from very poor to respectable in a very short time, this is largely down to the booming economy that has brought in Haitian, Jamaican, US and Uk workers, many of whom play a good standard of football.

As i said before, we are now on a par with countries like Panama and certainly stronger than the Bahamas. We intend to enter the Gold Cup and the Caribbean cup after this World Cup and you will see our ranking start to rise up around the 160's over the next few years as the youth academy starts to produce adult players.

The Haitian boys who play in our league are very quick and fit but lack discipline! You can see from our website www.football.tc that the Haitian strikers are the leading scorers. We know that these Haitian players would probably not even make your national league so we can only imagine how good the select team is.

Our preparations are going well and the latest news on the fixtures is still not yet confirmed, but we are almost certain to be playing the Haiti leg on the 18th Feb at the Orange Bowl, evening kick off, and the T.C.I leg on the 21st Feb at the Ted Hendricks Stadium in Hialeah, mid day kick off.

Can anyone tell me if the Haitian TV Network is going to televise the games? If they are not, we need to employ a Florida company to video the matches.

What kind of attendance can we expect from the Florida Haitian community at the matches? We are chartering American Airlines flights from here and expect a large number to make the journey.

When we receive our new uniform next week i will attach a photo of the current team.

In the meantime, congratulations on your 200 year celebrations and best wishes.

Chris Gannon.

phaiti · #2 (**permalink**) 01-07-04, 04:09 AM

hey man! nice to see you here. well im glad to see somebody from Turks and Caicos talking to the haitians,really lot of people don't no the football in your country, well, i'll be good if you can keep us, up to date with how everything going since we'll compete against your country later.... thank you for talking to us

Cassa Boubou · #3 (**permalink**) 01-09-04, 03:56 PM

hw5 Welcome to this site Chris and thank you for opening a line of communication between your Turks and Caicos National team and ours. The Haitian national team has been spending a lot of time in Florida, preparing for the game. It is no big secret and we can't afford to look pass your team. We can't afford to do that these days as we have lost some of our edge. But rest assure that we will gain it back as we are trying hard to prepare young discipline players to take over and bring a certain respect to our football.

I'm sorry that your country had drawn Haiti as their first round opponant, I was just as dissapointed about drawing Jamaica on the second round but I like to believe that with a little bit of luck on our side, we can overcome that challenge. Better luck next time around and I honestly think your country is doing the right thing by enterring the Gold Cup, it will bring experience to the National team players, something that you can't put a price on.

Good luck and good to hear from a player and a fan of Turks and Caicos.

hw5 hw5 hw5

chelsea · #4 (**permalink**) 01-10-04, 12:08 AM

Hi there and thankyou for the words of support.

I can now confirm that the matches will take place as following;

Wednesday Feb 18th, Miami Orange Bowl, 7pm kick off.

Saturday Feb 21st, Ted Hendricks Stadium, Hialeah, Kick off 8pm.

I look forward to playing in front of the passionate fans of Haiti and hope to see many of you come to support your team and maybe give us some support also as we know this is a very tough job against such a strong team.

My number is probably going to be 6 and i play in the centre of midfield.

Best wishes,

Chris Gannon.

panoramix · #5 (**permalink**) 01-13-04, 03:37 PM

Welcome Chelsea!

Happy to see you here! Haitiwebs is a good place to snoop around if you want to find out about Haitian Football. I've been busy planning some soccer related projects. Hopefully be next week, I'll have more concerning thr Haitian National team, and the Haitian league. My goal is to continuously improve Haitian soccer coverage on the internet, something our federation is not doing. From a look at your up to date site, TCI seems to be in good hands, Haiti has a lot to learn from TCI's Federation Vision, Public Relations and Organisation. If TCI maintains a sustained effort, sooner or later they will be able to compete in the CONCACAF.

phaiti · #6 (**permalink**) 01-17-04, 01:54 AM

that's a good point pano! i would be glad to see you to that, and i think that will help our soccer culture. can you tell me who's in the roster presently?

panoramix · #7 (**permalink**) 01-22-04, 10:25 AM

Phaiti,

map jwen'n list la pou ou soon! Mwen pa blye'ou! I've been busy!

I hope you stick around Chelsea, make sure you come back to the forum after the game. lol

Peace and good luck!

chelsea · #8 (**permalink**) 01-23-04, 11:17 AM

We are hearing serious news that Haiti may not even progress beyond the Turks and Caicos fixture.

Apparently, the Orange Bowl have still not received a deposit on the stadium from the Haitian authorities and are going to cancel the fixture.

We also hear that the new coach Clavijo, has not been paid for three months and is very unhappy.

It these things are not sorted out, Fifa will award the tie to us and we will play Jamaica in the next round.

This is hardly the best kind of preparation for your team?

phaiti · #9 (**permalink**) 01-24-04, 02:48 AM

i think we just have to wait and see what will happen, but i no whatever the reasons are! we will play the games.. i hope you just be ready because we coming for you guys!!!!!!!!!!!!! holla

Cassa Boubou · #10 (**permalink**) 01-27-04, 09:27 AM

Don't worry about the rumors you heard. In the history of soccer, never have the (FHF) Federation Haitian of Football been so financial secure due in part to the support of Haitian people in Miami, to our sponsor and also to the record money made during the game against Santa Domingo and Honduras for the Olympic qualifier.

But I could not resist to publish this quote from the F.A web site and beg on our national team to beware and don't take the game lightly:

"Come play for the Islands

The country has been helped along in their quest for football respectability by a public notice placed on the FA?s official web site calling for players that might be eligible to play for the team at all levels. The announcement: YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU: If you originate from the Turks & Caicos Islands and are playing soccer overseas you could be eligible to represent the Turks & Caicos Islands in the 2006 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers. "

They are looking for re-inforcement for the game and so should we? We have the African Nation of Mali calling on all his kids playing all over Europe( Ex: Kanoute played for France Under 21 team, now is playing for Mali in the full National Team. Born of a Malian father and a French mother). I'm sure there are plenty of Haitian kids playing all over the world who could help and increase our chances at the same time? Why don't we expend an invitation to them too? Your opinion will be greatly appreciated.