So, the Canadian side is expecting a much stiffer test on Nov. 18 in Basseterre than they got in Nations League wins over the US Virgin Islands and Dominica.

Canadian men’s national lteam coach John Herdman has made it something of a trademark to throw young players right into the mix. With six teenagers seeing the field in Canada’s 5-0 win over Dominica, it appears its steady on with that philosophy.

So, even though Canada played Dominica in the most recent World Cup qualifying cycle, Canadian midfielder Jonathan Osorio admitted that he and his teammates have what amounts to a very limited scouting report on the team from the island nation.

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.

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.

When it comes to the Canadian men’s national team and the “will he or won’t he?”story, we’ve all grown pretty accustomed to the “won’t he” ending.

You have to wonder, if there comes a time when the likes of Jonathan David or Cyle Larin or Lucas Cavallini threaten the all-time record for national-team goals, how much their fortunes were boosted by being part of the first-ever CONCACAF Nations League qualifying campaign. It will be almost unfair to look at their ledgers and compare them to Canadian national-team players of the past.

“It’s one of those tier-three matches that, when you frame this up for the players, it’s a different challenge than playing against a Mexico,” Herdman said in a conference call from Canada’s camp in Florida on Friday. “There’s an expectation to rack up a scoreline.”

If David Wotherspoon is named to the Canadian roster for the Oct. 16 Nations League qualifier against Dominica, he’ll be making his first-ever trip to the country he’s representing.

“There are parts of this team that I’m really comfortable with and, when I look to the future and I’m projecting out four years time and we’re in a World Cup playing against tough opposition, top opposition, which of the players are going be able to cope with that level of competition?”