The Union’s Danley Jean Jacques celebrates helping Haiti reach its first men’s World Cup since 1974

In soccer as in life, sometimes more than one thing happens at once. Right now, the Union have so many things happening that your head could end up on a swivel.

There’s the ongoing investigation into sporting director Ernst Tanner’s alleged misconduct, for which there were no new updates by the close of business Thursday.

There’s the rest of the team’s preparations to resume the playoffs on Sunday vs. New York City FC at Subaru Park (7:55 p.m., FS1, Fox Deportes, Apple TV) after three weeks without a game.

There’s the fact that next year’s schedule was announced Thursday with three rounds of this year’s playoffs still to go. (Early schedule releases are good, but this one took almost everyone by surprise.)

And on top of all of that, there are the epic swings of emotions that two of the Union’s stalwart players experienced while playing for their national teams.

Andre Blake’s Jamaica came up painfully short of qualifying for next year’s World Cup, with ties at Trinidad and home vs. Curaçao. The first made the second game a must-win, but the Reggae Boyz could only manage a scoreless tie while hitting the post three times.

Those results sentenced Jamaica to March’s inter-continental playoffs in Mexico that will clinch two of the six remaining World Cup tickets. Blake and company will play Oceania runner-up New Caledonia, and the winner will play Africa’s Democratic Republic of the Congo for a Cup berth.

» READ MORE: Andre Blake stars again for the Union while keeping hurricane-hit Jamaica in mind

At the same time, Danley Jean Jacques’ Haiti reached the world game’s biggest stage for the first time since 1974. Despite not being able to play a true home game for years because of domestic unrest, Les Grenadiers beat Costa Rica 1-0 and Nicaragua 2-0. When tradition-rich Costa Rica and Honduras played a scoreless tie on Tuesday, Les Grenadiers clinched first place in their group.

Even better, Tuesday was Haiti’s national holiday, celebrating its centuries of independence from France.

“I’m very proud to have qualified my country for a World Cup,” Jean Jacques said at Thursday’s Union practice, speaking in his native French. “It feels good, and I think it makes all Haitian people in general feel good.”

Unfortunately, the 25-year-old midfielder was suspended from the finale because of yellow card accumulation, so watched from the stands of Haiti’s neutral-ground “home” in Curaçao. But he was able to take part in the celebrations.

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“It was a bit stressful, because I wanted to play, I wanted to give everything for my country,” Jean Jacques said. “But I was confident in my teammates. I knew they would do the rest of the work. I had done the most I could, and I was very confident that my teammates would get it done.”

Because Haiti’s game finished before Costa Rica-Honduras, the team didn’t know at its final whistle whether it had qualified. So they all waited on the field, following the other game on mobile phones. TV cameras were still rolling and captured the joy when the news came across.

“Representing Haiti means many things,” Jean Jacques said. “You have to give your heart. Every time I represent Haiti, I try to give my maximum, I try to give everything for my country. I don’t want to come up short for my country — I try to give my maximum, and I feel very, very good to represent Haiti.”

Some players documented their celebrations on Instagram, and fans flooded their comments to celebrate. There were also great scenes in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, and throughout the Haitian diaspora across North America.

» READ MORE: Projecting the USMNT’s World Cup roster after its last game of the year: Several locals in; surprises on the bubble

“It had been a long time since Haiti qualified for a [men’s] World Cup, and now we’ve done it,” Jean Jacques said. “I think they [at home] are proud, and I hope they will stay behind us and push us and give us strength. They will help us in the future, because I think we have more to give.”

Coincidentally, Jean Jacques isn’t the only player on Haiti’s team with ties to Philadelphia. Outside back Duke Lacroix, 32, is an Ocean County, N.J., native who played his college soccer at Penn from 2011-14.

Lacroix has played professionally ever since in the U.S. second-division USL Championship, for a range of teams. At his current home, the Colorado Springs Switchbacks, he has many teammates with Union ties, including Matt Real and Anthony Fontana.

“He told me that he spent some time here, and about the city,” Jean Jacques said of Lacroix. “He said it’s a nice city and I’m in a good club. … I can say he’s a good player who plays strong, is very serious, and works hard.”

» READ MORE: The Union put Ernst Tanner on leave as MLS reopens an investigation into alleged misconduct

It’s also a coincidence that Jean Jacques’ closest friend on the Union, Olivier Mbaizo, was the first player to make a World Cup squad while with the club. Jean Jacques could be the second, with lots of people in Chester and beyond hoping Blake ties him on that mark.

“It means many things for me. I think it would mean many things for the club, too,” Jean Jacques said. “The team deserves this, because it’s a good club, with a good setup. I hope there will be other players, too, who will be able to be part of the World Cup, because it’s a good thing for the club.”

He also took a moment to praise the club’s young Americans who have played in youth World Cups lately: Frankie Westfield at the under-20 level and Cavan Sullivan at the under-17 level.

“I think they will keep growing,” he said.

» READ MORE: Led by Miguel Almirón, Paraguay shows MLS can develop players for the rest of the world, too

There’s a long way to go until next summer for Jean Jacques, Haiti, and the Union. But he has allowed himself a moment to dream of what it will be like if he steps onto the field in a World Cup game — perhaps even at Lincoln Financial Field if Haiti is drawn to play here.

“It has always been a dream to play in a World Cup, to qualify my country, so I’m very happy,” he said. “I’m waiting for the moment when it arrives, and I’ll see how it goes. But no matter what, whether I’m on the field or off it, I’ll support my teammates and give everything for the country.”

All games will be played in March as single-elimination rounds. The inter-continental playoffs will be played in Guadalajara and Monterrey, Mexico, while the European playoffs will be played on home fields.

Bracket 1: New Caledonia (Oceania) vs. Jamaica (Concacaf); winner plays Democratic Republic of the Congo (Africa)

Bracket 2: Bolivia (South America) vs. Suriname (Concacaf); winner plays Iraq

In all the brackets listed below, the first game’s winner will host the second-round contest.

Bracket 1: Wales vs. Bosnia & Herzegovina, Italy vs. Northern Ireland

Bracket 2: Ukraine vs. Sweden, Poland vs. Albania

Bracket 3: Slovakia vs. Kosovo, Turkey vs. Romania

Bracket 4: Czech Republic vs. Republic of Ireland, Denmark vs. North Macedonia