The first two rounds of preliminary qualifying for 2018 World Cup in CONCACAF were drawn on Thursday in Miami, and Canada has booked a ticket to the Caribbean to begin their qualifying journey.
Canada will play the winner of the first round match-up between the British Virgin Islands and Dominica when they enter qualifying in round two. Canada was seeded No. 9, while Dominica was seeded No. 25 and the British Virgin Islands were ranked at No. 34. The seedings are based on FIFA rankings from August 2014.
Qualifying for the 2018 World Cup, to be held in Russia, will stretch 33 months, beginning with the first round in March. That first round kicks off with the 14 lowest-seeded teams paired off in home-and-away series. The seven teams that advance, plus the next 13 teams in the rankings, have been paired off for home-and-away series in the second round, which will take place in June.
The top six seeds, which include the United States, Mexico, and Costa Rica, won't enter World Cup qualifying until the fourth round, which is the round before the final, hexagonal, phase of qualifying.
The full draw for the first two rounds of CONCACAF 2018 World Cup qualifying:
Round 1 match-ups:
Bahamas vs. Bermuda
British Virgin Islands vs. Dominica
Barbados vs. US Virgin Islands
Turks and Caicos Islands vs. St. Kitts and Nevis
Nicaragua vs. Anguilla
Belize vs. Cayman Islands
Curacao vs. Montserrat
Round 2 match-ups:
St. Vincent and the Grenadines vs. Guyana
Antigua and Barbuda vs. St. Lucia
Puerto Rico vs. Grenada
Canada vs. British Virgin Islands/Dominica winner
Dominican Republic vs. Belize/Cayman Islands winner
Guatemala vs. Bahamas/Bermuda winner
Aruba vs. Barbados/US Virgin Islands
Turks and Caicos Islands/St. Kitts and Nevis winner vs. El Salvador
Curacao/Montserrat winner vs. Cuba
Nicaragua/Anguilla winner vs. Suriname
