COLUMBUS, OHIO: Defender Tony Sanneh will miss the United States' World Cup qualifying opener against Grenada this weekend because of a sprained right ankle. Sanneh, a veteran of the 2002 World Cup, was injured during practice Tuesday. He returned for FC Nuremberg's final seven league games last season after missing 15 months because of a back injury. With Sanneh gone from camp, the U.S. team is down to the 18-man roster limit for Sunday's game in Columbus, Ohio. The second game of the total-goals series is June 20 on the Caribbean island. "You do need to think of goals because you never want to go away from home in the second round having to seek a lot of goals," U.S. coach Bruce Arena said Thursday during a telephone conference call. "We don't want to go into Grenada having only a one-goal margin on our opponent." The Americans, who advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2002 World Cup in their best showing in 7 years, had a bye in the opening round of qualifying for the 2006 tournament. The winner of this series advances to a regional semifinal group likely to include El Salvador, Jamaica and Panama, with the top two teams moving on to next year's finals in the North and Central American and Caribbean region. While the United States is ranked ninth in the world in the latest FIFA rankings, down one spot, Grenada is 138th, up from 145th in May. "I don't perceive us to be a giant," Arena said. "This time around I think our players remember the qualifying process from 2000 and 2001 and how difficult it was, and the highs and lows and the things we went through to make us a team. We're well aware of that. We also left the 2002 World Cup with a real good feeling. I think that motivates our group. I think we want to get back to the World Cup and place ourselves in a position to do well again, and we know it's a long road to get there." Grenada, which beat Guyana on 8-1 aggregate in the first round, is perhaps best remembered in the United States for the 1983 American invasion that followed a coup. "That certainly comes to mind, and the fact that it's one of the Caribbean islands where a number of American students attend medical school," Arena said. "Since the draw, we have visited Grenada to scout our opponent and are fully aware of their team at this point in time." SOURCE: CARIBUPDATE.COM