If FC Edmonton, which left NASL at the end of the 2017 season, is to field a pro team in the Canadian Premier League in 2019, the club needs its fans to rally. It needs a massive ground game to sell season-ticket commitments. And, maybe, if the team is to survive, Wednesday’s night’s meeting of soccer supporters will be remembered as the Alberta Capital’s very own Tennis Court Oath, soccer style.

It could become our annual cold-shaming-of-teams-from-other-parts-of-CONCACAF festival. Oh, hi there, Mexican champs! Welcome to -20 C! Oh, hello L.A. Galaxy. Welcome to Winnipeg in February. No, this isn’t “bad” weather to us. This is NORMAL weather to us.

Toronto FC was, by a wide margin, the livelier team, and got two well-deserved road goals. A 2-0 result in the CONCACAF Champions League Round of 16 first leg gives the Reds a commanding advantage heading home for next week’s second match.

Matheson missed all of the 2017 NWSL season after re-injuring the same troublesome knee that severely limited her participation in the 2015 Women’s World Cup. But she was placed on the Canadian roster for the upcoming Algarve Cup.

The roster for the Algarve Cup was unveiled, featuring seven forwards out of the 23 players named. Maybe new coach Kenneth Heiner-Moller has been studying post-Second World War Eastern European tactics and is looking to start at least four strikers, or maybe he's going to go way out there and show us off Canada's new-look 1-3-6.

So, as Calgary looks to edge closer to a “yes” and four other Canadian cities work towards a World Cup, is someone finally going to take charge ask if these processes are on a collision course?

Easton shared some thoughts on how he sees the league, and what the long-term goals are when it comes to developing Canadian players.

There's an assumption from the bid committee that Canada's World Cup hosting duties will be spread out. So, if only two cities are selected in the end, it CANNOT be Montreal-Toronto or Vancouver-Edmonton

But, when it comes to tournament soccer, there is an argument for playing possum in the group stage. If you meet a team you faced in the group stage later in the tournament, that opponent doesn’t really know what to expect when you meet again. The opponent may be overconfident.

Canada has to play Haiti for third place in the CONCACAF U-20 Women’s Championship — and, more importantly, the region’s final spot in the U-20 Women’s World Cup.