Danielle Etienne
Photography by: Peter Bonilla
From growing up with dreams of one day representing Haiti, to giving birth just two months before their decisive playoff win in the WC Qualifiers, Danielle Etienne’s road to the World Cup has been one paved by sacrifice against all odds. Before she boarded her flight to Australia this summer, we caught up with Danielle to look back at the historic journey that took her and her country to the biggest stage in soccer for the very first time.
“I remember sitting in my living room at nine years old watching the Women’s World Cup with my dad,” she recalls with a smile. With opening kickoff in Australia inching closer and closer, she radiates nothing but brimming excitement and anticipation. “I knew I wanted to be there one day, and it’s what made me fully embrace the fact I wanted to be a professional soccer player. I knew I could be on that stage someday,” she says confidently.
Danielle grew up in a house filled with soccer, and perhaps it was destined that she’d one day follow in the footsteps of her decorated family. Her father and uncle had both played for Haiti, and her brother Derrick had earned his own spot at the National Team level at a young age too.
“For as long as I can remember, we had family scrimmages in our backyard. It was all my cousins, my brother, my uncle, and my dad. I was the only girl, so I was always trying to be tough with the boys in the backyard. I loved playing with them, and it never felt any different to me. My dad would tell me, ‘It’s not about being a boy or a girl, you’re a footballer.’ That’s just how I grew up, and I still see so many of those lessons I learned in my backyard show up in my game today.”
After progressing at the club level in the US, it wasn’t long before the Haiti National Team noticed her talent and swiftly called her up at just thirteen years of age.
“I cried the first time I got called up,” she recalls. “I remember sitting down with my dad and my uncle, and they were just explaining to me what it meant. It was surreal. I had always kept track of my brother on the National Team, but I had never really thought one day that could be me. I was really excited and humbled because there’s no higher honor as a player. It means that you’re the best at your age to represent your country, and I took a lot of pride in that. But I knew it was only the start. I had to keep putting in the work to earn a name for myself and represent my country in the best way possible.”
Being called up gave her the chance to visit the country she’d heard so much about from her grandfather and her dad’s side of the family. It was a culture she’d always embraced, but being on the island gave her the chance to connect with her nation – and her future World Cup teammates – at a deeper level.
“My grandfather and others in my family had always told me about Haiti, but I had never experienced it for myself. Of course, we kept traditions at home and always ate Haitian food, but finally seeing the country when I was called up only increased my appreciation for it. There was so much more than what I had heard about. There were obviously the parts you see in the media, but there is so much more that people around the world don’t get to see. It’s beautiful, and I fell in love instantly. At the time, I didn’t speak Creole, but everyone welcomed me with open arms and tried to communicate with me in some way and make me feel at home.”
During high school and her early college years, Danielle continued to visit Haiti for training camps and tournaments with the youth National Team. By the time this World Cup cycle rolled around, she had already earned a spot on the senior team and expectations were higher than ever.
“A lot of us have been playing together since we were thirteen – from the very, very beginning. I was with many of them in my first camp with the team all those years ago, and we call each other sisters because we’ve known each other for so long. Our hearts all beat for Haiti, and I think that’s what made us mesh so easily. For this cycle, Qualifiers began in early 2022, and our coaches told us from the start, ‘This is only the beginning. We have a long way to go.’”
“There were big expectations for us, at least with the first opponents that we faced. But we went into every game like it was the World Cup. We knew that was our ultimate goal, so we couldn’t underestimate any opponent. In 2019, we failed to qualify because of goal differential, so this time around, we made sure we never took our foot off the gas, and we scored as much as we could. We were trying to show we were a high-level team. We might’ve not had the experience, but we wanted to show we were technically sound and driven.”
Those positive early results propelled Haiti into the Final Round of the CONCACAF Women’s Championship where they had to face the US, Mexico, and Jamaica. Danielle was a crucial piece in the earlier Qualifying rounds, but she stepped away from the field that summer after a meniscus injury. On the bright side, Danielle also found out at the time that she was pregnant, and despite being away from the pitch, she did everything she could to be close to her teammates.
“We had started the cycle super well in the first couple of international windows, but we knew the summer of 2022 was going to be our trial of fire. I injured my meniscus ahead of the summer, though, and a few months later, I found out I was pregnant. I wasn’t able to play during the last games of the qualifiers, but I was still engaged with the team and FaceTiming them any chance I could get,” she remembers with a smile.
Although the result against the US didn’t go their way, a 3-0 victory against Mexico gave them the chance to qualify in a one-off match against Jamaica. Danielle traveled to catch the game, but unfortunately, Haiti fell to Jamaica in gut-wrenching fashion.
“It hurt not to be able to get the result, but we didn’t leave the game disappointed,” she says. “We knew we had another opportunity, but we also knew we had to work three times as hard to make sure that one didn’t slip through our hands again. We left knowing nothing else was going to stand in our way to make the World Cup.”
With a date set for the intercontinental playoff in February of 2023, Danielle got back to work in preparation for the biggest moment in her career up to that point. The nerves of stepping back on the field after her knee injury and giving birth just two months prior weighed heavy on her mind.
“I talked to my brother right after Christmas, and he asked me how I felt. I just told him I was scared because I didn’t want to fail at fulfilling all the huge expectations. I was scared to disappoint my country and my teammates. My brother just told me I had to trust myself because he knew the type of player I was and how hard I’d worked to get back. He told me I was better than I was even before. Honestly, that helped me shift my mindset. I knew I had to trust that the work that I had put in this far would get me where I needed to go. Once I got back to camp, I put in a few good performances at training and I knew I was back. It was as if I’d never been away. The road to getting back on the field was tough, but once I was back with my teammates, everything became easy again.”
Following a grueling training regimen to get back in playing shape, Danielle was ready to head to New Zealand and hopefully make history with her nation. There were many flight delays along the way, but once the whole squad reached the Southern country, it was all hands on deck for the most important two games in the team’s history.
“Despite all the obstacles we had getting there, as soon as we arrived, we knew this was our last chance. We had no excuses. We had to put everything aside and find it within ourselves to qualify. We had our meeting with the coaches where we went over the tactics for the match. But we have a tradition where we also have our own separate meetings as players. We all got together and just said ‘We get the tactics and all that, but at the end of the day, none of that matters if we don’t perform it.’ That was kind of what we all needed to hear. It can be overwhelming to be at that stage, but at the end of the day, we just have to get on the field and play.”
The team swiftly dispatched Senegal with a 2-0 win, and now they were just one game away from reaching the World Cup. Up next, they had a do-or-die match against Chile.
“That game against Chile was literally our last chance. Those 90 minutes were going to determine our future. We were on the verge of writing history, and we knew we just had to seize the moment. We didn’t have another chance. Everything had led up to that one game.”
For many of the older players, it was an opportunity that probably meant even more to them.
“The players’ meeting ahead of the game against Chile was very emotional. Our veterans just kind of said they weren’t sure if they would ever have the opportunity to play in a World Cup. It was this one or it was nothing. For a lot of us younger players that was very moving, and it made us realize how much more it meant to the veterans on the team.”
Beyond just playing for themselves and the veterans, the squad also felt as if they were playing for something far more important.
“Not only did we want to qualify for ourselves, but we felt like we were playing for something more. There are always comments around the world about what’s going on in Haiti, and we just thought maybe we can’t change those things, but we can bring a little bit of light to our people. Maybe we could be a small distraction from what’s going on. It meant so much more than us just wanting to go to a World Cup. It was us playing for a nation that needs something positive and help uplift the country – if only for a moment. We didn’t feel pressure in the sense that we had to deliver something beyond football, but we took it as wanting to do something that would change the perspective on our country. All the news and reports would be about something positive for Haiti. It was a moment we all wanted to have as Haitians, and I think that helped us step on the field with even greater confidence and determination.”
In the end, it was the fairytale ending that every Haitian had hoped for. The squad pulled off a 2-1 victory over Chile and punched their ticket to a World Cup for the very first time in the country’s history.
“Waiting for the final whistle felt like forever. Once the whistle blew, tears started rolling down my face. I remember hugging one of my older teammates, and she just started sobbing. She just kept saying ‘Thank you.’ It was a surreal moment. We made history. We did something for our country that we could have never imagined when we were 10 years old.”
To make things even more special, Danielle’s son, and her whole family as well had traveled to New Zealand to witness her make history. From playing together in the backyard to seeing one of their own qualify for the World Cup meant the world to the Etienne family.
“As soon as the whistle blew, I thought, ‘Where is my son?’ At that point, I had already had my baby, so everything felt even bigger. It was amazing because this was such a big thing for our country, but I also felt like there was just so much more that I had personally been playing for. I wanted to make my grandfather proud, my dad and uncle – whom both played for the National Team – my brother, and everyone in my family who’d supported me too. I also wanted to make my son proud because that’s the next generation that I’m playing for. He was in the stands with my parents watching me play. I hadn’t played in almost a year, and I was two months out from having given birth. That’s why there was so much emotion at the final whistle. I just started crying.”
“I really didn’t think I could do it. I had so many times where I doubted myself. I kept thinking, ‘What are you really capable of doing after you just had a baby?’ And I helped my country make the World Cup for the first time. It was history. There was so much raw emotion. Even at this moment, it feels surreal to think that I’m going to be playing at the World Cup. It’s insane.”
With the shock of the qualification now giving way to the anticipation for the tournament, Danielle and her teammates are looking to extend their historic year and are set to accomplish much more.
“I think qualifying hopefully shows how much value there is in Haiti. Sometimes that gets overshadowed by some of the other things going on in the country, but there is so much value there. I’m honored to have helped put our country’s name up high and show that there is a positive side to it. I think we only showed a glimpse of what we can do as a country.”
“We’ve only checked off the first box, which was qualifying. We all have the mindset that we don’t just want to leave it at that. We want to make a statement while we are there. We already stepped past the zone of ‘never done it before.’ We want to keep making history and keep doing things that haven’t been done before. We’re all very excited about it, and we can’t wait for that opening whistle. It’s gonna be so special.”
Still, before heading out to Australia, Danielle can’t help but remember that fateful day back in February.
“I’ll never forget that day. I’ll never forget holding my son on the field after we sealed qualification. Making the World Cup is the dream of any soccer player, and I got to share that with my son. That was huge for me because I had just had a baby, and I was able to get back to the national team level – the highest stage there is. It meant so much because I struggled so much during those two months in preparation for the playoffs. But I got to be exactly where I wanted to be, and he was there to watch me too. I felt like, ‘This is the dream. This is all I’ve been working for.’
“Like I said, though, it’s only the beginning. There is so much more to do.”
Photography by: Peter Bonilla
