All but three of the American players are under contract to teams in the Major Arena Soccer League, including Danny Waltman, who was named the MASL’s goalkeeper of the year in 2016. Canada has three MASL vets: Ian Bennett of the Milwaukee Wave, Frederico Moojen of the St. Louis Ambush and Vahid Assadpour of the Missouri Comets.

At this time last year (MLS Week 8/NASL Week 4), 26 Canadians had seen the field for their MLS or NASL clubs. This year, 32 Canadians have played in MLS or NASL games so far this season.

FC Edmonton’s 18-year-old midfielder made his professional debut Saturday, playing 80 minutes against the Tampa Bay Rowdies. But, he couldn’t let himself get too carried away — on Tuesday, the University of Alberta first-year engineering student wrote an exam.

This past weekend, the Edmonton teenager made his pro debut, playing 80 minutes in FC Edmonton’s 1-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Rowdies.

“They have a real fighting spirit, like the Canadians.” And, Herdman says the Aussies can burn you with plenty of scoring threats around the park.

To be frank, it's pretty bad — about as bad as any Canadian fan would imagine. She won't be available for the upcoming Olympics and, in terms of her recovery, we're talking years, not months. And, as you'll see in the statement, she says there are "no guarantees" that she makes a full recovery.

But this is all that matters: With games left against El Salvador (home) and Honduras (away), Canada still controls its own destiny. At the start of this group stage, we would have taken this scenario. Gladly. Two games left, and all to play for — with no games left against Mexico.

Yet, this week, we’ll announce a change in the way we do things with our power rankings. We will track the minutes played by Canadians in USL. But, to make sure fair is fair, the USL numbers are not tracked on the same list as MLS and NASL.

Life isn’t like a John Hughes film. In real life, the socially awkward guy who listens to Echo and the Bunnymen doesn’t end up with the most popular girl in high school. In real life, if the scrawny kid challenges the neighbourhood bully to a fight, he comes home with his own blood on his shirt and there’s fewer teeth in his mouth than he began the day with.

“I’m looking to come back to North America. I’m kind of in between things, talking to a few clubs. Hopefully, after this camp, things will be sorted out.”