Speaker 1: Many decades ago. In nineteen seventy four, Haiti's soccer team
Speaker 1: pulled off a seemingly impossible feat. They qualified for the
Speaker 1: Men's World Cup.
Speaker 2: The Haitian sem wasn't that good. So hearing that once
Speaker 2: upon a time Haiti milled the walker was like what.
Speaker 1: Auns Cherry is thirty one and he's one of many
Speaker 1: Haitians for whom that giant achievement has become a sort
Speaker 1: of legend Haitian soccer lore. And never in his wildest
Speaker 1: dreams did he think it could happen again.
Speaker 3: Haiti haven't been there in more than five decades. That
Speaker 3: could end tonight if results go their way.
Speaker 1: But then, on November eighteenth, twenty twenty five, Haiti went
Speaker 1: up against Nicaragua. They played at a small stadium in
Speaker 1: the Caribbean island of Kurasau in front of fifteen hundred fans,
Speaker 1: With Compact Haiti's signature music blasting in the background. Haiti
Speaker 1: was one step away from returning to the world's biggest
Speaker 1: soccer stage. That night, Ans, who covers soccer for the
Speaker 1: Haitian Times, was at home in Haiti with his dad
Speaker 1: and his little brother, their eyes glued to the TV screen, nervous.
Speaker 2: And I remember telling to myself, what if Haiti doesn't qualify,
Speaker 2: like they made it this for they give us hope,
Speaker 2: like people are saying Haiti is chaotic, but if they qualify,
Speaker 2: teens are going to get better.
Speaker 3: Haiti have a really, really good chance, particularly if they
Speaker 3: win in this final game.
Speaker 1: A lot of that chaos that Ans is referring to
Speaker 1: was ignited in twenty twenty one after the assassination of
Speaker 1: Haitian President Jovonel Mois. Gang violence took over the country
Speaker 1: and it even affected soccer. The national team has had
Speaker 1: to train and play all of its games abroad, all
Speaker 1: of the games, even the home games.
Speaker 3: Wonderful support for Haiti hearing Curasau on the final night,
Speaker 3: so much on the line and so much that can happen.
Speaker 1: Guasau is an island five hundred miles south of Haiti,
Speaker 1: and still hundreds of Haitian fans made the trip across
Speaker 1: the Caribbean to support their team.
Speaker 4: Aren't cross the Prince Haiti have a step in at
Speaker 4: first time.
Speaker 5: Stuff it's time.
Speaker 1: By the time the ref blew the final whistle, the
Speaker 1: score was two zero. Haiti had won, but the Haitian
Speaker 1: players and fans couldn't celebrate just yet.
Speaker 3: You can see the Haitian players huddling up here. They
Speaker 3: know they've done their job.
Speaker 1: Yes they had won this game, but they still needed
Speaker 1: to wait on the score of another match happening at
Speaker 1: the same time. And that game was tied, which was
Speaker 1: good because if it stayed that way, the Haitian team
Speaker 1: would qualify for the World Cup. So while the players
Speaker 1: huddled around the coach for a few more for eternal minutes,
Speaker 1: the fans waited.
Speaker 3: All the Haitian supporters back home up sure as well
Speaker 3: all around the world are waiting here with faded brass.
Speaker 4: And then it's over Haiti and got the nose.
Speaker 3: It's of all the fifty plus years in the banking.
Speaker 5: I'm still couldn't believe it.
Speaker 1: Ans, his dad and his brother sat in their living
Speaker 1: room in shock. He says they're not the type of
Speaker 1: fans to have big reactions, but he remembers looking at
Speaker 1: his dad and saying, we made it.
Speaker 2: Watching the players run on the field with the flag
Speaker 2: was one of the best thing I've ever seen in
Speaker 2: my life.
Speaker 1: Some of the players sprinted toward the chain link fence
Speaker 1: separating them from the stands, and danced with their fans,
Speaker 1: fireworks going off in the background. Other Haitian players collapsed
Speaker 1: on the field and broke into tears.
Speaker 3: And Haiti, they're all the trial, through all the tribulations.
Speaker 4: That their country.
Speaker 3: Has gone through, that these players have gone through. Kaiti
Speaker 3: well played at the twenty twenty six feet for World Cup.
Speaker 3: It's the stop of football Dreams.
Speaker 1: From Futuru Studios am Fernande Chabarri and this is American Football,
Speaker 1: a show about soccer culture in the US and its
Speaker 1: underdog roots. In every sport, there are always stories about underdogs.
Speaker 1: There are teams and players who go through such insurmountable
Speaker 1: odds that you just can't help but love them, the
Speaker 1: kind of stories that make for great Hollywood films. In
Speaker 1: this World Cup, that team is Haiti. This is a
Speaker 1: story about a country and a people who have dealt
Speaker 1: with turmoil at home and who've been maligned abroad. And
Speaker 1: that's all on top of their struggle to qualify for
Speaker 1: this year's World Cup. And we'll also look at Haiti's
Speaker 1: journey beyond this epic qualification as Haitian fans at home
Speaker 1: and abroad navigate through a wave of anti immigrants, sentiment
Speaker 1: and hostile policies coming from the main World Cup host,
Speaker 1: the United States. I'm going to let our producer, Andreskavajerro
Speaker 1: take it from here.
Speaker 4: Cool, so we're recording. Could you tell me where you
Speaker 4: are right now?
Speaker 2: I mean capysin right now. It's Friday afternoon, so school
Speaker 2: is over.
Speaker 4: Ouns Cherry is based in Kapai, Sian, Haiti's second biggest city,
Speaker 4: and I will say getting him in a quiet room
Speaker 4: to record this interview was pretty much impossible.
Speaker 5: It's a little busy outside with the traffic.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of people getting ready to start the weekend.
Speaker 4: Ones writes about soccer for The Haitian Times, a Brooklyn
Speaker 4: based paper that covers the Haitian diaspora around the world.
Speaker 2: I love the game, I love doing analysis. I love
Speaker 2: telling soccer stories.
Speaker 4: He also plays, watches and breathes soccer.
Speaker 2: If I have any problem anton expressing me out, you're
Speaker 2: gonna find me on a soccer field, even if it's
Speaker 2: by myself or playing pickup game, You're gonna find me there.
Speaker 4: Owns has lived in Haiti for the past few years,
Speaker 4: but he spent a big part of his life in
Speaker 4: New York. He moved there when he was twelve with
Speaker 4: his parents and two sisters. His parents were looking for
Speaker 4: better schools, better jobs.
Speaker 2: And also for a safety because around the time when
Speaker 2: we moved two thousand and seven, two thousand and eight,
Speaker 2: that's when I want to say, heyy started to get
Speaker 2: a little hectic.
Speaker 1: Two thousand and eight started off with promise. Security in
Speaker 1: Haiti had much improved, but the period of calm was
Speaker 1: short lived.
Speaker 4: Owns grew to become a journalist, and in twenty twenty
Speaker 4: one he was living in where he was covering the
Speaker 4: largest Haitian community in the US for The Haitian Times.
Speaker 4: One day his phone started going off in the middle
Speaker 4: of the night.
Speaker 2: And I was sleeping. I remember the exact time, probably
Speaker 2: around two in the morning.
Speaker 4: It was the co founder of the paper he worked for, and.
Speaker 5: I'm like, why is he calling me at that time?
Speaker 2: And when I picked up, I don't even remember him
Speaker 2: saying how you you went slip to the point Jovna
Speaker 2: Mooi's the president got assassinated.
Speaker 6: We bring you some breaking news now and Haiti's president,
Speaker 6: Jovenel Moyes has been assassinated at his home in Porta.
Speaker 5: Prince they shot the president.
Speaker 2: My sources have been firmed that he is in fact dead,
Speaker 2: a crime plunging an already unstable country into even further disarray.
Speaker 2: I felt hopeless because this is the president, the most
Speaker 2: important person in the country, I want to say, getting
Speaker 2: shot in his bedroom. So that really showed me how
Speaker 2: in a way of that can happen to the president,
Speaker 2: you know, if the president's not even said, where's this
Speaker 2: country canna go?
Speaker 5: So it was really heavy on my heart.
Speaker 4: During the months after the president's assassination, things only got worse.
Speaker 7: Since the killing, the already fragile economic and political situation
Speaker 7: and the country fell deeper to dysfunction as gangs took
Speaker 7: over large parts of the capitol. Thousands of people have
Speaker 7: been killed, tortured, or forced to leave.
Speaker 2: That's when gangs really started to you know, kick people
Speaker 2: out their houses.
Speaker 5: Burn people homes.
Speaker 2: There was a period every week all so there was
Speaker 2: you know, thousands of people leaving their homes because this
Speaker 2: gang member is attacking their city now, and then the
Speaker 2: next week it's another city. So that's how it was
Speaker 2: for the next two three years. I want to say,
Speaker 2: after you got assassinated.
Speaker 4: Soon the unrest started to have an impact on sports competitions,
Speaker 4: the local league teams and on Haiti's national soccer team.
Speaker 5: At that point of even think the league was in
Speaker 5: function because of the game and photoquants.
Speaker 4: In July twenty twenty one, the month the president was murdered,
Speaker 4: was the last time Haiti got to play an international
Speaker 4: match on its home soil. They've had to train and
Speaker 4: play all of their home games abroad in places like Gurassau,
Speaker 4: five hundred miles away across the sea. Their coach, French
Speaker 4: national Sebastien Migne, has never even set foot in Haiti
Speaker 4: since taken the job in twenty twenty four. Not being
Speaker 4: able to play games at home, especially the World Cup qualifiers,
Speaker 4: puts any team in a disadvantage, even the best. There's
Speaker 4: actual research behind home advantage and the impact of playing
Speaker 4: in front of your fans. For Onuns, the idea of
Speaker 4: witnessing a game in Haiti feels like a thing of
Speaker 4: the past, a thing of memories, like the time his
Speaker 4: uncle took him to a local league game.
Speaker 5: How was eleven back then, and I was like, wow,
Speaker 5: this is intense.
Speaker 4: The fans were hardcore on seys. It was rowdy and alive.
Speaker 5: I was like I like this, even though this is
Speaker 5: very odd called Aidi Kursen. I really love this.
Speaker 4: But today that feeling of a home game is more
Speaker 4: distant than ever.
Speaker 2: So definitely I got from watching Haitian players playing in
Speaker 2: a small field in Haiti with Haitian fans. I haven't
Speaker 2: got that in a while, and as we port it. Also,
Speaker 2: I can't say that I covered the Haitian soccer team
Speaker 2: in Haiti. It breaks my hole, and not only as
Speaker 2: a reportable, also as a as a Sacca fan.
Speaker 4: In twenty twenty four, as the World Cup qualifiers began,
Speaker 4: Haiti was number eighty six out of two hundred eleven
Speaker 4: countries in the FIFA ranking. So while FIFA expanded the
Speaker 4: number of participating nations to forty eight teams for this
Speaker 4: World Cup, the odds were still not in their favor.
Speaker 4: Haiti's journey to the World Cup twenty twenty six was
Speaker 4: long and at first it looked like another dead end
Speaker 4: qualify around.
Speaker 5: So we play against team that weren't that strong.
Speaker 2: Obviously we beat them, but the level wasn't there and
Speaker 2: I didn't see us qualifying.
Speaker 4: One of the problems Haiti had was that most players
Speaker 4: on the national team live and play abroad.
Speaker 2: The Haitian league it is competitive, they play very very odd,
Speaker 2: you know, but it's not the highest level. I mean,
Speaker 2: the Haitian league wasn't even functioning for two three years.
Speaker 2: So how do you get players from Haiti?
Speaker 7: You know?
Speaker 2: So that's why we get most players from the diaspa,
Speaker 2: because the league's are better there.
Speaker 4: But the coach and the Haitian Soccer Federation needed a
Speaker 4: winning team, or at least a team that stood a chance,
Speaker 4: so they drafted players who were in the big leagues
Speaker 4: in Europe, players like John Rickner, Bellinguard Brilliance who played
Speaker 4: in the English Premier League. That's very little. It's a
Speaker 4: super strike from Sean Ricknerpeljar and Jsue Casimir who was
Speaker 4: playing in France's top division. That's when fans started to
Speaker 4: sense something different.
Speaker 5: This craziest scene.
Speaker 2: How a player from the high level can change a team.
Speaker 2: They changed how Haiti played completely.
Speaker 4: So with a new squad stacked with players from the
Speaker 4: Haitian diaspora thriving in the big leagues abroad, things really
Speaker 4: started coming together. Fans were starting to believe. Then out
Speaker 4: of nowhere, with just a few games left in the qualifiers.
Speaker 4: News broke about a new roadblock for the team, but
Speaker 4: even more so for their supporters.
Speaker 3: President Donald Trump has signed a new travel band that
Speaker 3: will block people from several countries from traveling to the
Speaker 3: United States. Haiti is one of the twelve countries seeing
Speaker 3: this full band.
Speaker 2: At midnight, a new band on travelers from mostly African,
Speaker 2: Asian and Caribbean countries goes into effect.
Speaker 1: An unprecedented visa ban and a court battle. Stay with us,
Speaker 1: We'll be right back. Hey, We're back with American Football
Speaker 1: and Fernande Charalary, our producer and Ris Cavaguerro is going
Speaker 1: to take us back into the World Cup qualifiers. When
Speaker 1: Haiti started winning and fans started dreaming, Haiti.
Speaker 4: Had momentum, they were winning their games. Everything was looking up.
Speaker 4: And then in June twenty twenty five, with just a
Speaker 4: few games left in the World Cup qualifiers, some breaking
Speaker 4: news came out of the US.
Speaker 8: The presidents that are starting Monday at midnight, he's blocking
Speaker 8: people from twelve countries entering the US, citing national security concerns,
Speaker 8: a dramatic escalation in his immigration crackdown, and.
Speaker 4: We want to keep bad people out of our country.
Speaker 8: The band includes countries mainly in Africa and the Middle East,
Speaker 8: among them Afghanistan, Haiti, Iran, and Yemen.
Speaker 4: Five months after the US announced the mass travel band,
Speaker 4: Haiti played its final qualifier against Nicaragua and secured their
Speaker 4: spot at the World Cup.
Speaker 1: Haitian soccer fans are celebrating today after the Caribbean nation
Speaker 1: qualified for the World Cup.
Speaker 4: A welcome break from all the bad news for Haitians
Speaker 4: living at home and in the United States.
Speaker 5: I don't have no word last night, I can I
Speaker 5: even sleep.
Speaker 6: It's like a gym come too far for us to
Speaker 6: be in the World Cup this year is a blessing
Speaker 6: and you know what, Hopefully it will put us back
Speaker 6: in a map because we do know about soccer.
Speaker 4: During the past year, President Trump has issued visa restrictions
Speaker 4: for citizens of forty countries quote to protect the security
Speaker 4: of the United States close quote. Four of those countries, Haiti, Iran,
Speaker 4: Ivory Coast, and Senegal qualified to the World Cup. Even
Speaker 4: though FIFA has promised that quote fans from all over
Speaker 4: the world will be welcome, the US government said that
Speaker 4: only players, immediate family and team staff would be exempted
Speaker 4: from the ban. Fans from the four countries affected would
Speaker 4: not be allowed in the United States.
Speaker 2: You just feeling sad for people could get affected by
Speaker 2: this van.
Speaker 4: Even if you're one of the privilegedations who can afford
Speaker 4: travel and those exorbitantly expensive World Cup tickets, you're out
Speaker 4: of luck.
Speaker 2: Let's say a wealthy man wanted to travel to the
Speaker 2: US to watch Haiti plate.
Speaker 5: He's not going to be able to do that.
Speaker 4: And the thing is, these policies coming from the White House,
Speaker 4: they could have an impact on the immigrants in the
Speaker 4: US who might want to go to a World Cup game.
Speaker 4: Let me explain. There are about one million Haitian immigrants
Speaker 4: in the US. More than three hundred thousand of them
Speaker 4: arrived after the devastating twenty ten earthquake under what is
Speaker 4: known as Temporary Protected status, or TPS. It basically means
Speaker 4: they can live in the country legally. But in twenty
Speaker 4: twenty five, the Trump administration announced it would end TPS
Speaker 4: for Haitians.
Speaker 6: The order means that more than three hundred thousand Haitians
Speaker 6: now living here could face deportation in a little over
Speaker 6: two months.
Speaker 4: And this wasn't Trump's first attempt at ending TPS. Trump
Speaker 4: tried to end protections for Haitians during his first term
Speaker 4: in twenty eighteen, but that process was blocked by the
Speaker 4: courts installed before it got to the Supreme Court. Then,
Speaker 4: during a presidential debate for his twenty twenty four campaign,
Speaker 4: Trump singled out the Haitian community, amplifying debunked accusations that
Speaker 4: were so vile and outrageous. I'm not going to repeat
Speaker 4: them here verbatim.
Speaker 5: It was fake news.
Speaker 2: Basically, if you take about it, if you'll plan to
Speaker 2: get more voted to lie about all hate on Haitians, it.
Speaker 5: Shows how crude the world is.
Speaker 2: And you probably did get some movels because of the
Speaker 2: study was saying about Haitians.
Speaker 4: Last February, right before TPS was set to end for Haitians,
Speaker 4: a Columbia District court stayed determination temporarily, which means that
Speaker 4: the US Supreme Court will have to make the final decision,
Speaker 4: and that decision is expected to happen this summer in
Speaker 4: the middle of the World Cup. This raises a lot
Speaker 4: of questions for the Haitian diaspora, who are trying to
Speaker 4: decide whether to attend the Haiti match or just play
Speaker 4: it safe and watch them at home.
Speaker 2: Some Haitians in the US they're probably not gonna risk
Speaker 2: it because there was news about Ice being at World
Speaker 2: Cup games, which sucks because they're there in the US
Speaker 2: and den I able to go to a soccer game,
Speaker 2: which really breaks my heart. So not being able to
Speaker 2: enjoy it properly like other countries, it really sucks, and
Speaker 2: it makes me think that you know, why always us.
Speaker 1: After the break Hans gets to do when he never imagined.
Speaker 1: We'll be right back. Hey, we're back. I'm Fernande Chavarri
Speaker 1: and this is American football. Let's wrap up our story
Speaker 1: about Haiti's long journey to the World Cup with producer
Speaker 1: Andres Cavaliero.
Speaker 4: Since qualifying thanks to the players they had called up
Speaker 4: from the European leagues who transformed the team, there have
Speaker 4: been new developments. A few months ago, rumors about other
Speaker 4: Haitian diaspora players joining the team began making the rounds.
Speaker 7: They can't pick him up, but I can't fight.
Speaker 3: All s sales et Hawsavans.
Speaker 4: One of them was English Premier League striker Wilson Isidor
Speaker 4: who plays for Sunderland. Isidor was born in France to
Speaker 4: Haitian and Malagassi parents. At one point he even played
Speaker 4: for the French national youth team. As soon as fans
Speaker 4: found out that he had been invited to join the
Speaker 4: Haitian squad, they took to social media and began campaigning
Speaker 4: for him to come on board, and eventually he did.
Speaker 4: In a video posted on Facebook by the Haitian Soccer Federation,
Speaker 4: he told the fans in Creole, you asked for me,
Speaker 4: you believed in me, you waited for me. Today I
Speaker 4: come to tell you here I am. And this is
Speaker 4: a big deal because once easy Door plays for Haiti
Speaker 4: in this World Cup, he would forego his eligibility to
Speaker 4: ever play for France again. The fact easy Door could
Speaker 4: potentially play for France but is willing to go all
Speaker 4: in on Haiti says something about what this World Cup
Speaker 4: means for superstar players like him.
Speaker 2: So I want to say this is probably the best
Speaker 2: Haitian tim we've seen in years.
Speaker 4: Despite all this hype, Haiti is still seen as the
Speaker 4: underdog when it comes to the forty eight countries competing
Speaker 4: in this World Cup.
Speaker 2: Most websites they put us last or second to last
Speaker 2: when they're doing their rankings. Well, I think we're gonna
Speaker 2: surprise people. I'm not gonna say we're gonna beat Brazil,
Speaker 2: but I see us giving Brazil or one for the money.
Speaker 4: It's the perfect story for fifas pr Machine, except for
Speaker 4: the fact that most Haitians will not be welcomed.
Speaker 2: I want us to surprise the world. I want to
Speaker 2: show to what that we can't play soccer too, That's what.
Speaker 5: I want to see.
Speaker 4: Lucky for Aunts, he not only covers soccer for the
Speaker 4: Haitian Times, but he is also a US citizen, So
Speaker 4: as soon as it was confirmed that Haiti qualified.
Speaker 2: It wasn't even a question. I remember telling my ya
Speaker 2: that Masu case is ready.
Speaker 4: Yes, owns will be working. But this is also going
Speaker 4: to be the first time he gets to watch the
Speaker 4: Haitian national team play live, and not just in any
Speaker 4: game in the World Cup.
Speaker 2: Watching Haiti, you know, in person, it's probably going to
Speaker 2: be my sweetest minimile as a soccer.
Speaker 4: Fan, and in the context of the current situation for Haitians,
Speaker 4: Onnz is taking his privilege very seriously. He says he
Speaker 4: will walk into each of those stadiums on behalf of
Speaker 4: all Haitians, those who feel hopeless about what's happening at home,
Speaker 4: those in the US who are feeling the weight of
Speaker 4: harsh anti immigrant policies.
Speaker 2: As a Haitian put it second on the side. It
Speaker 2: shows that, you know, we're still able. People are struggling
Speaker 2: to eat, we have immigration issues. People can even go
Speaker 2: to games will still have the biggest stage.
Speaker 4: And Haitians in the US will gather whether they decide
Speaker 4: to risk attending the games or watch from home or
Speaker 4: maybe from a bar in Philly, Miami, New York.
Speaker 2: Even though that country that has always struggling, even though
Speaker 2: that poorest country in the West amis fail, we can
Speaker 2: still do stuff all countries can do, you know, So
Speaker 2: so me the acting is.
Speaker 4: Everything, Mons says. It's the kind of defiant joy that
Speaker 4: starts with soccer but transcends it.
Speaker 1: That was producer andresk Caballerro, who, like me, is going
Speaker 1: to be watching Haiti's first game. American Football is produced
Speaker 1: by Futuro Studios in collaboration with Iheart's Mike Wultura podcast
Speaker 1: network I'm Your host Fernande Chavarri. This episode was produced
Speaker 1: by Andres Cavadiero with additional production from Levi Sharp. Our
Speaker 1: senior editor is Rebec Gaibarra. Fact checking by Roxanna Guire
Speaker 1: mixing by Brendon Krugel at Multitude Productions, additional help from
Speaker 1: Laura Wagner. Victoria Strada is our production manager. Legal review
Speaker 1: by Jonathan Fisher at Fisher Legal Arts. Our executive producers
Speaker 1: are Marlon Bishop and Maria Garcia at Putua Studios. Executive
Speaker 1: producers at iHeart are Leo Gomes and Arlene Santana. Futura
Speaker 1: Media was founded by Marie no Rosa. If you like
Speaker 1: this episode, you can listen to more on the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple podcast, or wherever you get your shows. Now, you
Speaker 1: know what would be really awesome is for you to
Speaker 1: give us a rating or a review. It's just going
Speaker 1: to help other people find our show. Thank you so
Speaker 1: much for listening. Bye,