Toronto FC defender Jim Brennan (No. 11) won't take St. Vincent and the Grenadines lightly in Canada's upcoming World Cup qualifier. (Jonathan Daniel/Getty

Jim Brennan openly admits it: he knows little about the St. Vincent and the Grenadines and even less about its national soccer team.

"I know they've got nice beaches, and the fishing is supposed to be good down there," Brennan told CBCSports.ca. "Nice golf courses, too. That's about it. To be honest, I don't know much about their team."

That's about to change.

The Toronto FC defender will get an up-close-and-personal look at the St. Vincent and the Grenadines team when Canada clashes with the Caribbean nation in the first round of the CONCACAF qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup.

Brennan and his teammates will be in Kingstown, the capital of the tiny island chain of roughly 120,000 inhabitants situated between Saint Lucia and Grenada, on Sunday for the opener of a two-game playoff. The return leg is June 20 in Montreal.

The winner of the series advances to the semifinal round of the CONCACAF qualifiers. The loser is eliminated and must wait another four years to try to qualify for the World Cup.

The stakes are high, and even though it appears to be a complete mismatch on paper - Canada is No. 60 in the current FIFA world rankings, while St. Vincent and the Grenadines comes in at No. 147 - Brennan doesn't expect it to be walkover.

"I know it's going to be very tough, because those games are always hard," Brennan said. "When teams like that play against bigger countries with the guys who are playing in big pro leagues like us, it's a big game for them and those are the hard ones to win. They always surprise you."

Indeed, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, nicknamed Vincy Heat, surprised Nicaragua in the first round of the CONCACAF qualifiers for the 2006 World Cup, upsetting the Central American powerhouse to advance to the semi-finals.

Looking to take next step

Once there, the Caribbean nation far exceeded expectations with a respectable third-place finish in its four-team, round-robin group after taking CONCACAF powerhouse Trinidad and Tobago to the limit on two occasions.

Now they are looking to take the next step, and Canada stands in their way.

"We are keen to show the world and the so-called powers in CONCACAF that what we did last time was no fluke," defender Wesley John told FIFA.com. "We have some very good footballers, and we are determined to show that we can perform well consistently."

It's not an idle threat. St. Vincent and the Grenadines has a strong youth soccer program, and the national team is a mix of veteran players who ply their trade abroad (John plays for Felgueiras in Portugal's second division, and forward Marlon Alex James is one of the top scorers in the Malaysian Super League) and a crop of home-grown youngsters

Canadian coach Dale Mitchell admits "it's very difficult to get information on them" and that he hasn't seen a lot of the Caribbean team, but what little he has seen has impressed him.

"They have a strong, athletic team. They have some good youngsters and they're a team we won't be taking lightly," Mitchell said.

Columbus Crew defender Ezra Hendrickson (No. 23) retired from the St. Vincent and Grenadines national team earlier this year. (Douglas C. Pizac/Associated Press

Make no mistake about it, though, the islanders have their work cut out for them.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines doesn't have a sparkling track record of achievement in international soccer. Its biggest claim to fame is finishing runner-up at the 1995 Caribbean Cup - they were thumped 5-0 by Trinidad in the final.

What's more, the team is coming off a string of recent losses to Barbados, Cuba and Jamaica (three countries listed considerably lower than Canada in the current FIFA rankings), and suffered a major setback when former captain and current Columbus Crew defender Ezra "EZ" Hendrickson retired from the national team in January after acquiring 123 caps for his country.

Still, don't expect the Canadians to take their Caribbean counterparts lightly.

"It's a game we have to take seriously," said Canadian playmaker Dwayne De Rosario. "They're entering this game playing to win, and so do we."

Coach Mitchell echoed De Rosario's sentiments:

"There is a danger in underestimating a team like St. Vincent. The island teams are improving. They have good athletes and, at home, they can be dangerous. And in a two-game series, anything can happen.

"We've taken steps to make sure that doesn't happen."