Philippe Vorbe (born September 14, 1947) is a former Haitian footballer who played as a
midfielder
A midfielder is an outfield position in association football.
Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...
for the
Haiti national football team
The Haiti national football team (french: Équipe d'Haïti de football, Haitian Creole: ''Ekip foutbòl Ayiti'') represents Haiti in international football. Haiti is administered by the Fédération Haïtienne de Football (FHF), the governing ...
in the
1974 FIFA World Cup in
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
. A legendary player in Haiti, he provided
Emmanuel Sanon
Emmanuel "Manno" Sanon (25 June 1951 – 21 February 2008) was a Haitian professional footballer who played as a striker. He starred in the Haiti national team winning the 1973 CONCACAF Championship. Haiti qualified for the finals of the 1974 ...
the pass that resulted in the famous goal that put an end to
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
goalkeeper
In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...
Dino Zoff
Dino Zoff (; born 28 February 1942) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is the oldest ever winner of the World Cup, which he earned as captain of the Italian national team in the 1982 tournament, at th ...
's no-goal streak. Vorbe played for the
New York Generals
The New York Generals were an American professional soccer team based in New York City that competed in the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) in 1967 and the North American Soccer League (NASL) in 1968.
Founded as charter members ...
and
Violette Athletic Club. He ascended from player to leader and is now the coach of Violette.
International career
Vorbe was described in a February 1974
''Observer'' article by
Hugh McIlvanney
Hugh McIlvanney (2 February 1934 – 24 January 2019) was a Scottish sports journalist who had long stints with the British Sunday newspapers ''The Observer'' (30 years until 1993) and then 23 years with ''The Sunday Times'' (1993–2016). Aft ...
as a "tall, handsome white man of French extraction" and a "graceful midfield player" with "impressive skills".
[McIlvanney, Hugh (February 10, 1974). "Tassy, voodoo 'Doc' of Haiti". ''The Observer''. p. 22]
Having qualified for the 1974 World Cup by first knocking out
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...
in a play-off, then topping the
final group in the capital Port-au-Prince, Haiti was drawn into a very difficult group featuring two-time champions
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
, future champions
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
, and
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
, who managed third place in the tournament.
The most famous goal of Haiti's World Cup run occurred against Italy. The ''Azzurri'' had not let in a goal in 12 games prior to the World Cup, thanks to goalkeeper
Dino Zoff
Dino Zoff (; born 28 February 1942) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is the oldest ever winner of the World Cup, which he earned as captain of the Italian national team in the 1982 tournament, at th ...
. However, in the opening of the second half, Emmanuel Sanon shocked the Italians with the opening goal, thanks to a spot-on pass from teammate Philippe Vorbe. However this lead did not hold and Italy went on to win 3–1.
References
External links
Philippe Vorbe NASL stats
1947 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Port-au-Prince
Haitian footballers
Haiti international footballers
Haitian people of French descent
1974 FIFA World Cup players
CONCACAF Championship-winning players
Expatriate soccer players in the United States
Haitian expatriate footballers
Haitian expatriate sportspeople in the United States
Ligue Haïtienne players
Violette AC players
National Professional Soccer League (1967) players
New York Generals (NPSL) players
New York Generals players
North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players
Association football midfielders
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