But, if Montagliani was to win the presidency — and his candidacy is backed by the Canadian Soccer Association — it would only grow to this country’s growing presence in the region. Canada’s Sonia Denoncourt has already been charged with helping improve the standard of CONCACAF refereeing; some cynics would say she’s in charge of actually creating a standard for CONCACAF refs. And Scotiabank has taken over as the title sponsor of the CONCACAF Champions League.

Crepeau was brilliant. Vitoria was troubling — not showing Canadian soccer supporters signs that he could become a starter when Canada faces Mexico in a pair of World Cup qualifiers in late March. In fact, Vitoria’s flat-footed play was, in many cases, the unfortunate catalyst for Crepeau’s brilliance.

This is not how a league is launched. For the first real public pronouncements about the Canadian league to come from contractor who puts bubbles over fields looks bad on basically our whole soccer establishment. What the investors in said Canadian league need to do now is to get ahead of this story — it’s about time for the rumours to end and some sort of public acknowledgement to be made. If a PR person isn’t in place, hire one. Now.

We’ve seen this over and over. A young players come up through our system, and then our small-but-oh-so-loud Canadian soccer community gives the kid way too much praise, way too much hype. It’s understandable, we’re so desparate for a saviour, an instant solution to decades worth of soccer rot, that we latch on to 17-year-old after 17-year-old. The message boards fill up with dreams of big moves to big clubs. And whether your name is Aleman, Alderson or Teibert, the overreaction to some early career successes puts you on a path to meet expectations that can’t possibly be met.

Soccer officials in the United States are moving to ban heading of the ball in youth soccer. Similar measures have been debated in Canada — but we’ve decided to go with an approach that stresses education over regulation. But, is there hard, peer-reviewed evidence out there that supports the notion that heading the ball leads to brain injuries?

Canadian soccer followers have seen it in World Cup qualifiers and in the CONCACAF Champions League — how the standards of officiating differ between Canada, the United States, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America. But Canadian official Sonia Denoncourt has been put in charge of the region’s referees — can she create standards that make sure no one ever gets “CONCACAF-fed” again?

The U-20 team qualified for the Women’s World Cup; but was youth really served by the decision to rest key players for the final game of the CONCACAF Championship?

Advanced analytics are helping soccer managers across the world assess their teams’ strengths and weaknesses. But Canada was one of the first national programs to embrace analytics — way back in the early ‘80s

With the likes of Cyle Larin and Junior Hoilett in the ranks, the Canadian men’s national team has received an injection of new blood. But, really, this team will likely only go as far as Atiba Hutchinson, Julian de Guzman and Will Johnson can take it...

On Friday, when the Canadian Soccer Association announced the schedule for the 2016 Amway Canadian Championship, there was no mention of network television coverage.