Julian de Guzman's knee injury won't allow him to take the field for Canada in its two upcoming do-or-die World Cup qualifiers. But he's still going along for the ride.

“Shamit, and I’ve said this before, if there is a better young player in our league, I have yet to see it. I think he is so consistent and I think he’ll be a big part of the national-team program moving forward.”

“Look, three o’clock kickoff. Last time, it was a national holiday for them. And that time in Panama they had the fireworks show outside our hotel. It is always expected going down to those countries, and I think we now have the core group of guys who are used to that and it doesn’t play a factor anymore.”

No doubt there would have been questions about the exclusion of veteran Will Johnson, who has featured in a couple of Toronto FC matches since recovering from a broken leg — an injury suffered while scoring arguably the most dramatic goal in the history of the Voyageurs Cup.

Levis is not the first CIS product to play in MLS. Right now, University of Montreal product Wandrille Lefevre is playing for the Montreal Impact. And he’s not the sole Husky to play pro soccer. Paul Craig played with FC Edmonton in NASL.

If there is one Canadian player who has the “coach puts my name in the lineup in pen” distinction, it is Janouk Charbonneau of FC Montreal.

The fact that such impressive performances were turned in by youngsters — from fullback Ashley Lawrence to midfielder Jessie Fleming to Beckie to Rose — bodes well for a program that, just four years before, was starved for young talent.

But some perspective — while watching the Canadian women’s team lose the Olympic semifinal sucks,this wasn’t nearly as bad as it was four years ago. There was no controversy around this 2-0 loss to Germany as there was in that infamous extra-time semifinal loss to the United States. There’s no referee to blame.

The news coming out of the Ottawa Fury camp isn't pretty; midfielder Julian de Guzman is expected to be out four to six weeks with a knee tendon issue. He was hurt in training last week.

Cyle Larin scored for Orlando City Sunday and played the full 90 minutes in a 2-2 draw with the Chicago Fire. Larin continues to lead all Canadians in either MLS or NASL in terms of minutes played.