USA National Football Team's Opponent in 2006 World Cup Qualifiers

The USA national football team will begin its long journey towards the 2006 World Cup with home-and-away matches against Grenada or Guyana next June. Following the draw on Friday to determine the qualifying matches for the upcoming World Cup finals, the national teams of Grenada and Guyana were selected to meet, with the first match between the two teams scheduled for February 18 and the return match on March 31. The USA national team, which has a bye in the first round of qualifiers, will play at home against the winner of the Grenada and Guyana matches on June 13, and then compete away on June 19 or 20. Claudio Reyna, the captain of the USA team who plays for Manchester City in England, stated, "We have to do our job. The first game at home must squash the two-legged series in its infancy. We need to make sure we attack from the first minute and turn the second game into a formality." The USA national team, which lost to Germany in the quarter-finals of the previous World Cup in France, is currently ranked 12th in the world football rankings. Additionally, Grenada is a collection of three Caribbean islands located about 100 miles north of Venezuela, and Guyana is situated on the northern coast of South America.