ST. LOUIS – When the US national team learned of their first opponents of the 2018 World Cup qualifying cycle, many fans had to do some Googling to find out who – or even just where – St. Vincent & the Grenadines is.
The team known as “Vincy Heat” would like to help you with that.
“It's putting this country on the map,” striker Gavin James told reporters after his team's Thursday evening training session at Busch Stadium ahead of Friday's match vs. the USMNT (7 pm ET; ESN2, UniMas, UDN). “A lot of people haven't even heard of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. So to be able to broadcast ourselves around the world, put our tiny little country on the map is amazing.
“This is the biggest game that everyone here has played, biggest crowd we've ever played in front of, to be broadcast all around the world as well. This is a very proud moment for everyone.”
Few are giving the underdogs much of a chance in this clash, and with good reason. Coach Cornelius Huggins' side defied the odds just to reach this point. With some 103,000 citizens, the tiny island nation is easily the smallest nation left in CONCACAF qualifying, and aside from two players with the USL's Seattle Sounders 2 and two more in the Finnish league, most of the squad plays in the semi-pro domestic league.
So Friday's match, and the five Group C games that follow over the year to come, are a priceless dose at exposure for a young group whose country rarely registers in the global game.
“This is my greatest opportunity since I played football. I could say it's a dream come, going against a big team like USA,” said 20-year-old striker Tevin Slater. “We can go out and show our talents tomorrow. Scouts might be watching – you never know. If we go out and do our best, a couple of players might go out from here.”
One key to the program's long-term improvement lies in more of them making their way into fully professional environments overseas. James, the English-born son of Vincentian parents, sees diamonds in the rough on his team.
“It's like an untapped resource in the Caribbean. You look in the [English] Premiership, a lot of the time there's players coming over from Africa, and in the Caribbean they're not so much noticed,” he said. “But if they come and have a look at the talent that's here, they'll start to unearth some real superstars. I think in this team there's potentially some that could go all the way.”
Game-time temperatures could dip below the freezing point, another unwelcome obstacle for the tropical islanders. But even as they shivered in the Midwestern chill despite layers of extra clothes gathered by Vincentian expatriates in New York and flown to St. Louis Thursday morning, Vincy Heat declined to defer to their enormous opponents.
“We are playing against a giant of football in America, but once you prepare properly, anything is possible on the day. So we are very confident that we can get a result,” said captain Darren Hamlett.
He says his team is fully aware of the USMNT's recent struggles and is bracing for a furious early start from the slumping Yanks.
“We can see that for ourselves, their performance over the last few games wasn't really themselves, so they're going to come at us,” he added. “They have a point to prove.”
