The Haitian football federation was meeting in its three-story Port-au-Prince headquarters when the earthquake hit. Thirty officials, coaches and referees died and another 20 remain missing, according to the Caribbean Football Union.
Yves-Jean Bart, the federation president, was badly injured but survived. None of the national team players were believed to be in the building at the time.
Broward College soccer coach Ernst ``Nono'' Jean-Baptiste and retired U.S. national team defender Fernando Clavijo are both former coaches of the Haitian national team and have been trying desperately to contact team members and coaches in Haiti.
``I am afraid to answer the phone because it's almost all bad news,'' said Baptiste, who played for the Haitian national team and the Fort Lauderdale Strikers and is a consultant with the Haitian federation. ``We lost one of our best coaches, Jean-Yves Labaze. He led our under-17 team to the youth World Cup in Korea in 2007. Who knows what will happen to Haitian soccer now? At some point, people there will need therapy, and soccer will be the best therapy for them.''
Clavijo coached Haiti from 2003 to 2005. He has been unable to reach his assistant coaches and most of his players from that team, which tied the United States 1-1 at the Orange Bowl on March 13, 2004.
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According to Soccer Fanhouse The American soccer player Jozy Altidore (an on-loan forward at England's Hull City) is of Haitian origina, (but both of his parents immigrated from Haiti to the United
States) and the 20-year-old has actively been soliciting
donations via his Twitter page, as well as getting the word out on various major news outlets like ESPN and CNN.
On Thursday Altidore stated his intentions in an interview with the Associated Press that he plans to attempt to fly to Haiti to see the situation himself and try to locate many of his missing family members. For the last two days he's been monitoring the situation through news reports, but with the communication lines down in Haiti, Altidore hasn't been able to get in contact with his loved ones.
"It's tough finding out what is happening because there are not many resources in Haiti at the moment. You only see what is on the television. This is a tragedy of astronomical proportions. It's definitely the most nerve-racking time of my life. It just makes you realize there is more to life than football."
Altidore, who is still searching for his first Premier League goal, was given the blessing of Hull City manager Phil Brown to take time away from the club to deal with the crisis. Earlier this season Altidore was criticized by Brown for arriving late to a game in October and posting an explanation on Twitter, without the approval of the club.
Also, Altidore has encouraged people to donate relief funds to fellow Haitian Wyclef Jean's Yele Haiti fund. The two have become friendly over the years, including Wyclef holding up Altidore's jersey during a pre-game concert in 2006 when the New York/New Jersey Metrostars were re-branded as the New York Red Bulls at Giants Stadium.
Obviously this is a terribly sad incident, but it's encouraging that players like Altidore and the Philadelphia 76ers Samuel Dalembert are stepping up and trying to help the situation the best they can. The fact that Altidore is willing to step away from the field and try to go to Haiti himself, a place where he'd done previous charity work, shows how committed to helping.
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