With the USL season complete, Jordan Schweitzer finished atop all Canada-eligible players when it comes to minutes played, with 2984. A total of 74 Canadians played in USL this season. Fourteen of them each played 2,000 minutes or more this season.

The formality of World Cup qualifying is done and dusted for the Canadian women's team.

Now, only months into the plan as he works to rebuild the men’s program from scratch, we’re already seeing Herdman ask players to buy into the program on a much deeper level than get off the plane, go to training, put on the shirt, play the game, fly back to your club.

Canada will play Panama Sunday, with the winner getting one of CONCACAF’s qualification spots at the Women’s World Cup.

Here’s a suggestion. What would be a hell of a lot better than streaming a World Cup qualifying match from a mostly empty 9,700-seat USL stadium in Edinburg, Tex.? Seeing Canada playing World Cup qualifiers in Ottawa or in Toronto or in Vancouver or in Winnipeg or in Edmonton. Or Victoria. Or Moncton. Heck, there’s a decent stadium in Fort Mac.

With the game already in hand, Sinclair was introduced at the start of the second half, clearly an effort to get her closer to all-time women’s international goal scoring leader Abby Wambach’s total of 184. On a two-player break, SInclair opted to pass to Huitema for a tap-in rather than take it herself. And when Sinclair got no. 174, she did not scream or raise her arms in triumph. She led her teammates quietly back to half.

Soolsma's the first person to score four goals in the final since 1962, and only the third to do it in the history of the trophy.

It was quite the weekend for players who have formerly worn the “next great hope” belt in Canadian soccer.

So, after Nichelle Prince’s brace gave Canada a 2-0 win over Jamaica in their group-stage opener at the CONCACAF Women’s Championship, all is sweetness and light. Right? Right? A Friday night match in a Texas USL stadium in front of, well, hundreds didn’t provide a lot of fireworks, but three points is three points, uh huh?

Yet, go to Ticketmaster’s website, search out the Oct. 16 match, click on the link for BMO Field's seat map, and you find enough blue dots — which represent unsold seats — to make up an ocean. At this point, it looks like it would take a fantastic surge just to get the lower bowl half full.