Canada Soccer announced today that it has released Director, High Performance, Tony Fonseca effective immediately.

Yet, both the Fury and the Canadian Soccer Association have guarded the team’s Canadian-content obligations for 2017 like a state secret. But the fact that there are a dozen non-Canadian-team-eligible players already signed tells us something.

The number of players in NWSL who have their contracts subsidized by the Canadian Soccer Association continues to shrink.

Canada provides a real issue for CONCACAF; our recognized national championship is the Voyageurs Cup. How well a Canadian club does in USL, NASL or MLS has no bearing on Champions League qualification. In the eyes of the region, the Voyageurs Cup is a more important trophy for a Canadian team to win than MLS Cup.

Post-Christmas, Canadian Soccer Association and CONCACAF President Victor Montagliani told the media that he was “open” to the idea of a joint bid between Canada, the United States and Mexico for the 2026 World Cup.

In accepting her 13th Canadian Female Player of the Year Award, Christine Sinclair suggested that NWSL expansion into Canada would be the way to add more jobs for women.

In a system without promotion and relegation, why is it important for us to have divisional distinctions for leagues? Really, why do we care so much what a series of suit-and-tie guys deem to be Divisions 1, 2 and 3 in North America?

Remember, though, FIFA has a rule about senior World Cups. All games must be played on the same surface. Either they’re all on grass, or all on artificial turf. Unless that rule changes, or the Mexicans and Americans agree to tear up a lot of grass, a joint bid would mean that Canadians would be left with the very pricy option of placing grass surfaces in stadiums.

The Fury’s front office says that the eligibility of each Montreal player will be set out in their contracts. There is no blanket policy that covers all loanees. So, if Ottawa and Montreal were to meet in a meaningful game, the status of the Impact loanees would be determined on a case-by-case basis.

Going forward, there will be ways for Canadians to become domestics league-wide in MLS, but it might be almost as difficult as it is to satisfy all the parameters to becoming a free agent in MLS.