"We played barefoot on the streets with whatever we could find. Sometimes we even used oranges." That's Frantzdy Pierrot on his childhood in Haiti — and on Tuesday, the state of Massachusetts declared an official day in his name.
Governor Maura Healey and Boston lawmakers announced "Frantzdy Pierrot Day" ahead of the World Cup, where the 31-year-old striker will represent Haiti at a tournament being partly hosted in his adopted home state. Haiti's opener against Scotland is scheduled for June 13th at Foxborough — fifteen minutes from where Pierrot first made a name for himself as a freshman at Melrose High School.
A path that shouldn't have worked — and did anyway
Pierrot moved to the U.S. at eleven, played two seasons at Melrose, one at Northeastern, then transferred to Coastal Carolina before getting drafted into MLS. After that, he went overseas — clubs across Europe, including a stint in Israel that was disrupted by war. At one point he called Melrose and asked if he could come back to train. They said yes.
His old coach, Dean Serino, is now a math teacher in Stoneham. He played hooky to be at Tuesday's ceremony. "He's a player from Massachusetts playing in the World Cup. If you wrote it as a movie, you wouldn't believe it. It's too far-fetched."
It really is. And yet Pierrot is third all-time in goals for Haiti, has played Champions League football, and is now preparing for just the second World Cup appearance in the island nation's history.
What this means on the pitch
Haiti qualified as genuine underdogs, and Pierrot is central to whatever attacking threat they can pose. Scotland will come into that June 13th opener as clear favorites — the odds will reflect that — but a striker with European experience who knows how to score at the highest level isn't someone any defense ignores.
The Foxborough crowd will have a strong Haitian-American contingent behind him. Boston's Haitian community packed Tuesday's ceremony. That kind of atmosphere, at a venue he essentially knows as home, is worth something.
Pierrot also announced a foundation to give Haitian kids access to football. "Our greatest legacy is what we build for others," he said. The on-field chapter is still being written — but he showed up to the ceremony focused on what comes after.
