“They’re a wounded animal but, hey, it’s one game,” said Hart. “They lost one-game, OK it’s a home game, but I think Honduras has too much experience to be desperate. They’re going to come in here thinking it’s only Canada and they can get a result here.”

“I would not know how to describe the field. It’s not even playable,” said Occean. “We came out with a big win and that’s important for us.”

“It’s been very limited to be honest, they haven’t played much,” said Hart at Tuesday’s practice. “We went down to see the two games they played in Jamaica, they actually brought the under-23 team so we really don’t know much about what the senior team is doing.”

It was October, 1996 — and the CONCACAF World Cup qualifying schedule had Canada playing Cuba back-to-back. One home game on Oct. 10, then an away match Oct. 13. The home date took place at Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium — which had been lovingly nicknamed “St. Paul’s Cathedral” by Canadian supporters because of Paul Peschisolido’s knack of scoring goals there.

On Sunday night, Canadian goalkeeper Lars Hirschfeld played the hero when he made a game-saving stop on Clint Dempsey in the final seconds of extra time to preserve a scoreless draw against the U.S at BMO Field.

“When I went to Romania it was like I was re-born because I got playing time, I got confidence from the coaches, the players, everybody. It just felt good. My rhythm got back in the games so I was really happy to get the experience.”

Ricketts was clear that the options that he has on the table all come from European clubs, and that none of them are trials — they are contract offers.

“I think the time for experimenting is finished,” said Hart. “We had a series of games in the first round of qualifying and due to injury or unforeseen circumstances I had a lot of different players go through that system. But now we sort of know what we need to do and any sort of changes is not necessary now.”

With five goals and two assists, Saiko has been involved in more goals than any player in NASL — on a team that currently sits sixth in the standings.

BSC Young Boys released a statement on Thursday on the status of Canadian national-team midfielder Josh Simpson, who broke his tibia, fibula and ankle in Wednesday’s Swiss League finale.