For the three thousand or so watching the stream of the Canadian men’s national team’s friendly against Azerbaijan, it was 90 minutes that offered very little in terms of hope or discouragement ahead of the next two crucial games of World Cup qualifying.

Less than three minutes in, Jonny Steele got the Fury off to a dream start in front of its home fans, with a strike that found the top corner of the goal.

John Herdman said that the team’s medical staff and the Canadian Olympic Committee have been closely monitoring the Zika situation. He said that his medical staff attended a conference last week where Zika was the top item on the agenda, and they returned with “good, clear information about the risks.”

Of any of the affiliated USL teams, FC Montreal's is the best example of a club that's being used as a true developmental side and not a farm team for the MLS parent club.

FC Edmonton began Saturday evening’s action in a dogfight for the NASL spring season title. But a fantastic 25-yard strike from Miami FC’s Ariel Martinez ended those dreams.

But, because the Eddies have a bye next weekend, the call-ups won't affect the team greatly. Corea will miss one match. Ledgerwood won't miss any. Both players will be back in the lineup for the final game of the spring season, when the Eddies face Fort Lauderdale on June 12.

“There’s a job to be done,” Miller said before the Eddies head off to South Florida. “They just signed a boy, (Michael) Lahoud, who I think was the one who made the Cosmos tick for many games, and now Miami have him. With him and Richie Ryan in the middle of the park, you can see their intent in Miami is not to be in the league where they are at the moment.”

Canadian national-teamers found the net across North America; Tesho Akindele scored twice for FC Dallas; Cyle Larin scored twice to lead Orlando City to a win over the Montreal Impact. And, in NASL, Marcel de Jong scored his second late-game match-winner of the season. His goal paced the Ottawa Fury to a 1-0 triumph over Jacksonville — and it was set up by fellow Canadian Carl Haworth.

Since 2012, when FC Edmonton moved into Clarke Field, the RailHawks have not won there, and have been outscored 22-6.

For the Eddies, the Timbo tackle will become just another chapter in a novel entitled Agonizing Ways to Be Eliminated From the Voyageurs Cup. At least the Eddies didn’t get knocked out by a 97th-minute goals in the second leg of a tie, as they have in the past two years. But, scoring two first-half goals in Ottawa is yet another way this team has brought its fans so close to Cup joy — only to have it go bad in the end.