Becoming a soccer fan in Haiti

So, I'm back in Haiti, my first night of my third trip here.

In the car on the way to the hotel I was listening to the U.S. vs Haiti soccer game (I, er, didn't know what I was listening to until I asked. The play-by-play was in Creole.) When I got out of the car, the U.S. was up 1-0.

During dinner, I heard Port-au-Prince light up with cheers a couple of times. What's that about? Haiti had scored two goals.

I don't really follow soccer, but it was hard to hear those cheers and not care about the game. So I went online to ESPN and saw a live "gamecast" with 12 minutes to go in the match. The way it works, I couldn't actually see the game, just a generic soccer field diagram and a minute-by-minute update.

Somewhere in the course of that 12 minutes I became a rabid soccer fan -- albeit one with no knowledge of the game. With each passing minute that Haiti held onto its 2-1 lead, I became aware that I really, really, really wanted them to win. Part of that is I'm a lifelong rooter of underdogs and the other part is, well, I think we've established I'm pretty fond of Haiti. (No offense, U.S. team -- but you did have that big win over #1 Spain recently.)

The countdown got to 89 minutes -- and one minute to go -- with Haiti still up by one.

Then, Haiti was charged with two fouls and the U.S. got two free kicks.

There was a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggg minute of waiting for the results.

The U.S. team apparently scored on one of the kicks, making the final score a tie.

And, a tie's good, it is.

But I didn't hear any roars in Port-au-Prince for the tie. I kept my door open in anticipation of hearing one more good cheer.

And, as always, I'm really pulling for Haiti to win. Maybe next time.

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