Less than a year after Spain lifted the World Cup trophy in South Africa, and nearly three years to the day before the next one begins in Brazil, the 2014 tournament quietly began on Wednesday with the first qualifier.

In it, Deon McCauley scored a hat trick for Belize in a 5-2 victory over Montserrat in Couva, Trinidad. Two Montserrat fans outside the stadium argued afterward about Coach Kenny Dyer’s tactics. “I’ll tell you this,” one grumbled, “Bob Bradley would have known to cover Dean McCauley tighter than that.”

From The Associated Press:

The first-leg match in a preliminary round for the North, Central American and Caribbean (Concacaf) region kicked off a sequence of 832 scheduled games to decide the 31 teams which will join host Brazil in contesting the next World Cup finals. Montserrat was the designated host, but since the 202nd-ranked team in the world did not have a venue that meets international standards, the match was played at the Ato Boldon Stadium in Trinidad. The tiny Caribbean island of Montserrat was devastated when the Soufriere Hills volcano erupted in 1995, with two-thirds of the population forced to leave. Most of the current team is based abroad. In three previous World Cup qualifying campaigns, Montserrat had never won a match, nor played on home ground. The return leg will take place in Belmopan, Belize, on Sunday.

Preliminary qualifying in Asia starts next week — who’s up for Myanmar vs. Mongolia, home and away? — and the draw to decide the full World Cup qualifying process will be held in Rio de Janeiro on July 30.

By then, Montserrat may already be game planning for 2018.