On Tuesday, Dasovic named his preliminary 23-man roster for the CONCACAF U-209 Championship. The team will gather Feb. 11 in Mexico City for a pre-tournament camp. And, right before the team plays its Feb. 18 opener in Puebla against Cuba, Dasovic will need to pare the roster down to 20 players.

Make no mistake, the CSA’s decision to protect a national Div. 3 vision, while at the same time endorsing a report which backs away from a national Div. 2 strategy, represents a major, major win for NASL over USL. FC Edmonton and Ottawa will be recognized as Div. 2 in NASL, while USL can’t cross the border — at least not in a way that would be recognized as, well, Canadian.

While the name hasn’t been picked, Pugh said many of the suggestions were linked to the city’s logging heritage and its closeness to the river. Rivermen, Loggers, Voyageurs are all names that came in. And football purists also suggested names like Ottawa City, Rovers and Rangers.

While the four members of the Canadian women’s national team who were in Edmonton Monday will all soon head Stateside to report to their NWSL teams, they still dream of playing pro soccer in their home and native land.