It's the ol' layover-and-flee move: Thirteen players from Haiti's under-17 national soccer team "deserted" their team during a layover at JFK Airport. Six players returned, but seven are still missing. The squad was headed to South Korea to prepare for the FIFA's U17 World Cup, but now it's unclear whether their team will be intact for its August 19 match against Japan.
Haitian officials are looking for the teens, and Haiti's counsel general Felix Augustin said, "It seems that some adults may have been involved. If so, they are going to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law." And the head of the Haitian Football Federation took to NYC radio waves by telling a Haitian-Creole station that the missing players were "were hurting their futures and threatened to involve U.S. authorities 'unless these players reinstate themselves as soon as possible.'" Hmm, given that Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, we think the kids will take their chances and stay here.
The FBI, NYPD, and Port Authority are helping look for the teens. U.S. Customs and Border Protection says they will try to help as much as they can, but the teens' tourist visas still have six months to go before expiring.
Photograph of some Haitian national under-17 soccer team players from the AP
