We are working to prepare the autumn issue of Plastic Pitch. And, as has become custom, we prep for the launch of the issue by previewing one of our stories on The 11. We present an abridged version of the Q and A we did with Ottawa Fury coach Marc Dos Santos.

But the best part of it was the colour commentary from the Maestro and the play-by-play work from his partner. Mad Bull, two man who never met a metaphor they didn’t like. And, even though Canada started off sluggishly, Canadian fans could ignore the quality of the soccer, and make the surreal viewing experience the focus of their chat.

Even though teams lost Canadians to international duty, the fact that so many other international players were also away opened up opportunities for our domestic players who usually ride the pine. The Impact started two Canadians in its 4-3 win over Chicago — and Wandrille Lefevre got a goal. The Eddies gave more than 300 minutes to Canadian players in their 1-1 draw with Minnesota United. Toronto FC gave starts to both Jonathan Osorio and Ashtone Morgan.

On Sunday, both FC Edmonton coach Colin Miller and Minnesota United boss Manny Lagos will rue how the players in their teams’ respective walls got out of the way when free kicks were hammered in their direction.

With his brace on Friday night against Belize, Tosaint Ricketts now has 12 goal in 43 appearances for Canada. That puts him at 0.28 goals per appearance, slightly better than De Ro’s standard. But, more interestingly, Ricketts has seven career goals in World Cup qualifiers; De Rosario had nine in his career.

“But we’ve created a monster here, in terms of players getting call-ups to their national teams. It’s a situation we’ve never had to deal with before this season, but it’s also an honour for the club.”

Canadian national-team coach Benito Floro re-affirmed his belief in Kyle Bekker, but said that the return of veteran midfielders Atiba Hutchinson and Will Johnson meant that there was no room at the inn for Jonathan Osorio.

Tesho Akindele started for FC Dallas and scored on a penalty kick. Cyle Larin set the MLS rookie scoring record when the Orlando City striker notched his 12th goal of the season.

But, as more and more North American Soccer League players get the calls to play for their countries, that league should also be subject to the same scheduling scrutiny. In fact, you could argue that NASL teams are less equipped than the MLS teams are when it comes to dealing with games on international dates.

With 10 minutes left Saturday’s match between Atlanta and FC Edmonton, Silverback Junior Burgos came up with that moment of magic. He hammered a free kick from distance just inside the post to give Atlanta the 1-0 win.