Now, whether you love or hate the NASL’s decision to create a spring season in which each of the 10 teams plays a nine-game schedule — with one of the top two playoff, er, “Championship” seeds going to the league champ — there’s no doubt it brought a sense of immediacy to the opening weekend.

The Eddies created more scoring chances, and were the better side based on style points. But a missed penalty and another effort that caromed off the post punctuated a night of missed opportunities.

And now there's bad news on the injury front. And that comes from 27-year-old midfielder Selenia Iacchelli — the former University of Nebraska captain who overcame a series of injuries to work her way back into the senior national-team picture.

Peterson said the league “will explore options on how we can better align ourselves with the CSA’s professional goals.”

FC Edmonton will be at least two players short of full strength when the club faces the Tampa Bay Rowdies in their NASL opener Saturday.

And the new system isn't as cut-and-dried for Canadian followers of the NASL as it is for those in the United States and the rest of the world.

And while the two players wore different colours, there was definitely some mutual admiration. When the chance came for Ameobi to get a trial with FC Edmonton, Jonke told coach Colin Miller that the English striker would be a good fit with the club. And, on Monday, Ameobi’s trial turned into a contract, as he fills the last international spot on the Eddies’ roster.

Late Thursday night, we got word from Apple and our developer, MAZ Digital, that the magazine is now live for iPhone and iPad. It's already available to Android users through Google Play and Amazon, so the rollout is now 100 per cent done.

And, while it’s difficult to go out the U-17 Women’s World Cup, at least it’s better to lose 3-2 — and show some real positive offensive glimpses — than go out to one of those oh-so-Canadian 1-0 or 2-0 defeats, where the commentators will say that we showed great heart but couldn’t create many chances.

“I think the number of chances we’ve been able to create has been excellent,” Miller said after the SFU match, a 3-1 win for the Eddies. “We really could have had a couple more tonight. But I’ve been really pleased with the style of football we are playing. In fact, there were times I thought we were guilty of overplaying. Some of the chances they created were more a product of us giving the ball away in poor areas.”