USVI's soccer team faces Curacao on Friday

ST. CROIX - The U.S. Virgin Islands senior men's soccer team will not be traveling to Brazil for the 2014 World Cup but the team made significant and historical strides over the last few months despite a lopsided record against international competition.

The USVI will play its last Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) qualifying match at home on Friday. The Dashing Eagles are scheduled to host Curaçao at 4 p.m. at Paul E. Joseph Stadium.

Admission is $15 for adults; $8 for children under the age of 12. Tickets can be purchased at the Rotary Building West in Frederiksted.

Against a strong qualifying group that also included Haiti and Antigua, the USVI dropped its first four matches by a combined score of 31-1. Friday's home game against Curaçao and then a visit to Willemstad, Curaçao on Tuesday will complete the FIFA qualifying run for the territory.

"It's been a big transition because we didn't get many of the college players back from school," USVI coach Terrence Jones Sr. said. "We're still building and we're still going to compete."

On Oct. 7, the USVI fell to Haiti 7-0 and that setback officially eliminated the USVI from advancing in the four-team qualifying group. Four days later, the team then loss at Antigua, 10-0.

But after it topped the British Virgin Islands in a two-game playoff back in July, the USVI jumped up over 40 notches in the FIFA World Rankings and advanced to the second round of World Cup qualifying for the first time in its history.

The USVI was officially recognized by FIFA, the international governing body of soccer, in 1998 and had never won any type of World Cup-qualifying match until the 2-0 win over its British cousins on July 3. That set the stage for the World Cup draw and that's when the USVI was matched up with Haiti, Antigua and Curaçao in Group F.

"Let's put it this way - it's a strong group," said USVI technical director Keith Griffith, who joined the USVI Soccer Federation last May and is now in charge of the youth soccer leagues. "Each of those teams have professional players."

The United States and Jamaica will await the Group F and E winners in Round 3. Those matches are scheduled to be played June 8 through Oct. 16, 2012.

Right now, Antigua (4-0) is atop the Group F standings followed by Haiti (3-0-1). The Haitians' lone tie came against Curaçao (0-3-1) on Oct. 11. Antigua and Haiti will play twice in the next week to decide the group winner.

After dropping its first four group matches, the USVI stumbled 18 spots in the FIFA World Rankings and now sits at No. 169 out of 208 nations. Curaçao has moved up seven sports since last month and is at No. 171.

For information about Friday's match in Frederiksted, call the USVI Soccer Federation office at 719-9707 or e-mail usvisoccer@vipowernet.net.

UVI completes inaugural soccer season

The University of Virgin Islands men's soccer team dropped its final regular-season match to Caribbean University, 5-0, last Saturday to finish the program's inaugural season.

The loss dropped the Buccaneers to 2-2-3 and put them in fourth place in their division. Based on goal differential, UVI just missed a spot in the playoffs for the Liga Atlética Interuniversitaria, which also includes 14 college soccer teams from Puerto Rico.

"We're looking forward to next year when we will have our own field," UVI athletic director Peter Sauer said Wednesday. "We were competitive in every game this season and now we know what it takes to win a championship."

UVI plans to construct one FIFA-certified soccer pitch and a practice field on the school's St. Croix campus. Construction on the $300,000 project was supposed to start last May but was delayed.

- Contact sports writer Aaron Gray at 774-8772 ext. 352 or email agray@dailynews.vi.

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