V.I. vs. U.S. World Cup qualifier looming

The blueprint has been laid out, and if the U.S. Virgin Islands men's soccer team continues its winning ways, the team will eventually run into the United States on the road to the 2014 World Cup.

But before any improbable date can be set up with the Americans, the USVI will have to advance past Haiti, Antigua and Curaçao in the second round of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football qualifying.

The preliminary draw for the 2014 World Cup was held in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday as every qualified soccer squad in the world reconized by FIFA, the international governing body of soccer, found out its immediate fate for the upcoming qualifying rounds.

Brazilian soccer stars Bebeto and Michel Bastos took to the stage and drew the CONCACAF pairings as the USVI was paired up in Group F.

"Let's put it this way - it's a strong group," said USVI technical director Keith Griffith, who took over in May. "This is very exciting. All the guys in college have been calling me all weekend. They want to start playing right now."

The USVI's upcoming three home-and-away series with Haiti, Antigua and Curaçao will be played Sept. 2 through Nov. 15 and is actually Round 2 of the CONCACAF qualifying. The 10 lowest-ranked teams in the region each played a two-game series last month, which was Round 1.

The USVI beat the British Virgin Islands, 2-0 and 2-1, to advance to the next round for the first time in history.

The wins raised a few international eye brows as the USVI jumped 44 places in the latest FIFA Wolrd Rankings, which were released Aug. 24. The team is now ranked No. 149 among the 208 member associations of FIFA.

"Imagine if we beat two more teams; we may jump into the Top 10 before this is all over," USVI goalkeeper Dillon Pieffer said.

The USVI and other Round 1 winners - Belize, Dominican Republic, St. Lucia and the Bahamas - joined the 19 next highest-ranked participating teams Saturday to make up the Round 2 draw. The 24 teams were drawn into six groups of four teams each. All six group winners advance to Round 3.

That's when the Jürgen Klinsmann-coached Americans enter the fray.

"That would be awesome," said Pieffer, who lives on St. Croix but is from Colorado. "The U.S. versus the U.S. Virgin Islands? It would be a dream to play against those guys."

USA 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. If the USVI can advance that far, that means Team USA will eventually have to strap on their shin guards, lace up their cleats and play at least one match in the territory.

Even though a match against the Americans would be memorable, it's a long way away, USVI attacking midfielder Junior Laurencin said.

"We have to take care of business before we can even start to think about that," said Laurencin, 26, a St. Lucia native who has lived in the Virgin Islands for the last six years. "When I saw the draw on TV, I was very excited because I know we can beat those teams. But we have to take it one match at a time."

During his college soccer days in New York - Laurencin helped lead Dowling College to the NCAA Div-II tournament quarterfinals in 2007 - he went up against a few Haitian National Team players at the Caribbean Cup in New York City.

"I remember thinking, 'those guys can play' so we're not going to take any team lightly and we're not going to underestimate anyone," Laurencin said.

Griffith said Haiti, the 2008 Digicel Cup champions, is the unofficial favorite to win the group.

It hasn't been confirmed yet, but the USVI's two matches with the Haitians may be played in the States. That means the USVI could potentially play three upcoming games on the U.S. mainland, which would receive a warm welcome from the dozen U.S. college players who are on the active roster.

"The whole idea of actually playing USA is incredible," Griffith said. "But you can quote me on this: If you can believe, you can achieve. Who knows? The sky is the limit for this group."

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

Sign up for Text Alerts

Sign up for e-mail newsletters