The United States national team will kick off its road to Russia with a fourth round World Cup qualifier in St. Louis on Nov. 13.
U.S. Soccer announced Busch Stadium as the site of the first qualifier between the U.S. and the winner of a playoff between St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Aruba on Monday afternoon.
The opening match in St. Louis kicks off a slate that includes a trip to Trinidad & Tobago (Nov. 17), a home-and-home series against the winner of a playoff between Antigua and Barbuda and Guatemala (March 25, 2016 away, March 29, 2016 in the U.S.), a trip to either St. Vincent or Aruba (Sept. 2, 2016) and the finale at home to T&T (Sept. 6).
The decision to stage the match in St. Louis brings the U.S. national team back to Missouri for the first time since a 0-0 draw with Paraguay on June 4, 1997. It is the first World Cup qualifier staged in one of the historic homes of soccer in this country since a 0-0 draw with El Salvador in 1989.
"We are absolutely thrilled to be playing our first World Cup qualifier towards Russia 2018 in St. Louis," U.S. head coach Jurgen Klinsmann said in a release. "There is no more appropriate place to start this campaign than a city that has contributed so much to the history and tradition of soccer in the United States. Some of the best players we have ever produced have ties there, and now we look forward to bringing the National Team back home to St. Louis where we know the support will be incredible."
Klinsmann and his players must navigate through the four-team Group C in order to secure one of the two available berths in the Hexagonal.
