CHICAGO: When Shalrie Joseph was five years old, he had a frightening first encounter with the United States. "We were hiding under our beds," said Joseph, a defender/midfielder for the New England Revolution in Major League Soccer, referring to the 1983 invasion of Grenada by the United States that overthrew a Marxist military council with ties to Cuba. "It was the most terrifying thing I ever went through. We were scared." Joseph, who has played 18 times for Grenada, and his teammates promise not to be cowed when they play the United States on June 13 in Columbus, Ohio, in the first leg of a two-game, home-and-home World Cup qualifying series. The return leg in the total-goals series is scheduled to be played June 20 in St. George's, the capital of Grenada, one of the smallest nations (population 89,000) in the Western Hemisphere. "People don't give us a chance," said Joseph, who moved to the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn when he was 15 and played for St. John's University before spending a season with the minor-league New York Freedoms. He said he would become a United States citizen in the next couple of months. "If we could win, it would be the biggest thing in the history of the country," he said. The Spice Boyz (Grenada, also called the Spice Island, is known for its exports of nutmeg and cocoa) used seven players from overseas in easily eliminating Guyana in the first round. For the games against the United States, Coach Alister Debellotte hopes to have striker Jason Roberts, who played for Wigan Athletic in the English First Division, and striker Delroy Facey, who plays for West Bromwich Albion, which has been promoted to the English Premier League. The squad also includes striker Ricky Charles, who scored 18 goals and had 16 assists last year for the University of South Carolina Spartanburg. "There are a lot of people from Grenada in Brooklyn and from around Boston, and almost 1,000 are going by car pool to Columbus," Joseph said. "This is huge for Grenada, and a draw would be nice." The return match has been moved from the soccer stadium, which holds about 4,000, to the nearby cricket ground, which can accommodate about 15,000 fans. SOURCE: CARIBUPDATE