FC Edmonton announced that it has inked a former member of the Montreal Impact to deal to spend the 2011 NASL season in the Alberta Capital. Alex Suprenant, who struggled to find time in the Impact lineup — and played for the club’s Canadian Soccer League affiliate, the Trois-Rivieres Attak. The defender played a part in the Impact’s run to the CONCACAF Champions League quarter-finals in 2008-09, when then-coach John Limniatis had to juggle his roster because of a busy USL schedule mixed with the CCL.

Lost in Thursday’s announcement of the awarding of the 2015 Women’s World Cup to Canada and the decision not to change the geographical arrangements of slots for Brazil 2014 was quick mention by FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke of some coming changes to regulations to help police match-fixing.

Now, the next part of the debate: Which cities will get the plum games — Canada’s home games, semifinals and final? FIFA and the Canadian Soccer Association released the names of the seven “candidate” cities to host games. Toronto wasn’t on that list, as expected, because of the conflict between the WWC and the Pan Am Games. The seven cities: Halifax, Moncton, Montreal Ottawa, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver.

The status quo will remain for the 2014 World Cup. The allocation of slots by regions will remain exactly the same as they were for the 2010 World Cup, despite hopes coming out of CONCACAF that this confederation would be bumped from three spots and a playoff berth to four clear slots.

Luke Kreamalmeyer led the way as the Montreal Impact finally beat an MLS team in preseason play. After loss to Portland and Sporting Kansas City, Montreal defeated FC Dallas 3-0 Wednesday in Arizona. But it has to be noted that FCD left most of its starting lineup well away from the pitch for this game. No sign of league MVP David Ferreira, striker Brek Shea, midfielder Daniel Hernandez or Winnipeg-raised defender Ugo Ihemelu. Regular starting keeper Kevin Hartman didn’t play, either.

When Christine Sinclair was asked in December about which players she thought had benefited the most from the possession-and-passing style of Canadian national women’s team coach Carolina Morace, she didn’t have to think long about the answer. Midfielder Diana Matheson. While Sinclair is no doubt the face of Canadian women’s soccer, Matheson has flourished as the distributor under Morace. She displayed her worth Wednesday in Canada’s 1-0 win over Scotland in the opener of the Cyprus Cup.

FC Edmonton has added four more Alberta-based players to its roster, bringing the number of signed players to 12 for the upcoming NASL season. Chris Kooy, the former member of the USL Calgary Mustangs who captained FCE in its season of friendlies in 2010, has been confirmed to return. Keeper Jaswinder Gill, a 2010 Canada West all-star with the University …

FIFA has announced that Zimbabwe has withdrawn its bid for the 2015 Women’s World Cup, leaving Canada as the only bidder left. Canada’s official bid book was presented to FIFA in mid-February. But, while it’s almost a certainty that FIFA will confirm the Canadian Soccer Association's successful bid on March 3, Canada is not yet officially declared the host.

rlando City has yet to play a regular-season game in its central Florida home, but the USL side is already talking about a move to Major League Soccer. On its official Facebook page, the club has launched a new initiative by urging fans to buy tickets and to let family and friends know about the new soccer team. And the club has made it clear the end goal is to grow to the point where MLS can’t ignore the city.

FC Edmonton has announced the signings of four players who spent the 2010 season with the club. Dutch goalkeeper Rein Baart and Alberta products Shaun Saiko, Kyle Yamada and Michael Cox have all signed for the 2011 NASL season.