The truth is, 2018 will be a low point for men’s soccer in Canada. Boy, is it going to suck. It will be ultimate in lame-duck years. Canadian jobs will dwindle. We’ll have fewer teams to support. And even in TFC beats Seattle 10-0 on Saturday, that’s not going to change a thing.

On Monday, FC Edmonton, which has already announced it had discontinued its professional operations, announced that Miller’s contract as the team’s head coach was no longer, and that goalkeeping coach Darren Woloshen’s time at the club was also done.

Canadian goalkeeper Dylon Powley, a Grant MacEwan University graduate who spent two years with Calgary Foothills of the PDL, will soon know what it’s like to be the most loyal of restaurant eaters.

Back in the day, when Toronto FC was a brand-spankin’ new team, it developed a rivalry with, of all teams, the Columbus Crew. There was no rhyme or reason for it; if you look in the history books, there is no mention of the great Columbus/Toronto war.

Canada was terrible in the first half. Norway was even more terrible in the second.

The Edmonton Economic Development Corporation can do all the promotions it wants, but it’s hard to tell anyone that you can be a soccer city, worth hosting national-team competition, when you can’t sell 4,000 not-expensive tickets to see a pro soccer team. It will be much harder to sell Edmonton to the World Cup Bid Committee and FIFA with a straight face, now.

“As for the Canadian Premier League, I love the idea, I think it’s important for Canada. But what we require is it to be sustainable. We need to be sustainable. Whatever we do, it won’t be USL. And the NASL is not sustainable in Edmonton.”

And this is exactly what MLS needs. It needs Toronto FC to be the foil. That’s the thing with MLS. With central control of contracts, with all franchises trotted out in Adidas gear, it’s always had the feel of a bunch of branch plants playing each other. What MLS needs is a New York Yankees, a Manchester United, a New England Patriots or Dallas Cowboys, a super-team that, outside of its fan base, is absolutely loathed.

To say that the first leg of the Eastern Conference semifinal was an ugly affair would be an insult to the word ugly. No, it wasn’t quite 2016 MLS Cup bad in terms of anti-football, but it definitely made you wonder why you weren’t spending Tuesday evening watching The Flash, instead.

The group of FC Edmonton players had their contracts expire on November 15. And with the team in limbo at the moment, it’s really no surprise that the team is now making the news of these players’ departures official.