USA vs. St. Vincent and the Grenadines: WC Qualifier Date, Time, Live Stream

The U.S. men's national team will start their qualifying campaign for the 2018 World Cup in St. Louis on Friday with a match against CONCACAF minnows St. Vincent and the Grenadines—their first-ever meeting with the tiny Caribbean nation.

The Vincy Heat beat Aruba 3-2 in the third round of qualifying and aren't expected to do much damage in Group C, which also includes Trinidad and Tobago and Guatemala. But as a new and unfamiliar foe, they present a tricky opponent for the Stars and Stripes, who will start their qualifying campaign with a new look.

Manager Jurgen Klinsmann has left a number of veteran stars out of the squad for the upcoming qualifiers, and while their first challenge looks like an easy one on paper, the CONCACAF giants can't afford to start their campaign on the wrong foot.

Date: Friday, Nov. 13

Time: 7:10 p.m. ET/12:10 a.m. GMT (next day)

Venue: Busch Stadium, St. Louis

Live Stream Info: The match will be broadcast on ESPN 2. Live stream options will be available via the WatchESPN app.

Preview

Wilfredo Lee/Associated Press

The Stars and Stripes will start their qualifying campaign without veteran striker Clint Dempsey and attacking midfielder Lee Nguyen, two of the team's top creative options in the attacking department. Instead, Klinsmann has opted to call up the likes of Darlington Nagbe and Matt Miazga, two newcomers to the squad.

Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl was particularly surprised at the exclusion of Dempsey, who has been in solid form for Seattle Sounders and remains the team's most clinical and experienced forward:

With the exception of Alan Gordon, all designated forwards called up for the matches against St. Vincent and Trinidad and Tobago are 26 years old or under. Jozy Altidore is by far the most experienced of the bunch, having more caps to his name than the other forwards combined.

On the other side of the pitch, there are some familiar faces, with the likes of Fabian Johnson, Geoff Cameron and Matt Besler all part of the squad. And if St. Vincent's previous results in qualifying are anything to go by, the defenders could be in for a surprisingly tough challenge.

The Vincy Heat beat Guyana 6-6 on aggregate thanks to away goals in June before dispatching of Aruba in the third round. The Caribbean minnows have scored and conceded in bunches so far, and they're not expected to change their approach in Round 4.

Pundits like Ian Darke of BT Sport have no trouble admitting they know little about the USA's next opponents:

Even Klinsmann himself admitted the unfamiliarity presents a new kind of challenge, via Goal's Sacha Pisani:

"

You're not very familiar with that team. You watch their previous games, you analyze their individual players as much as you can, but you don’t have that detailed picture that you have for teams like T&T [Trinidad and Tobago], who played in the Gold Cup, or the usual powerhouses in CONCACAF that you know pretty well.

This is a bit tricky. We have a lot of respect for them like we always have with our opponents, and we expect a lot of work against St. Vincent and the Grenadines. We are looking forward to it because we are going to have a big crowd in St. Louis and we want to start on the right foot in World Cup qualifiers.

"

Tevin Slater will likely be the main danger man for the visitors. The 21-year-old forward scored in both matches against Aruba and found the net three times against Guyana, per Dan Itel of MLSSoccer.com.

While the Vincy Heat deserve a ton of respect for making it this far, the USA shouldn't be troubled by a team ranked 129th on the official FIFA rankings. They're incredibly entertaining to watch, but their defense has routinely been overpowered by some of the smaller Caribbean nations―imagine what an in-form USA team could do to them.

Beating St. Vincent and the Grenadines is a must, and with a big clash against Trinidad and Tobago on the horizon, a strong performance is needed to grab some momentum moving forward.

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