Omar Salgado won’t have to wait until his 18th birthday to play in his first MLS game. The Vancouver Whitecaps have been successful in their efforts to get the No. 1 pick in the 2011 Superdraft cleared to play. Salgado is currently with the U.S. U-20 team as it prepares for the CONCACAF qualifiers in Guatemala, so he won’t be able to help the Whitecaps this Saturday in Philadelphia, where the club has a bit of a roster crisis because of international call-ups.

On Friday, the lottery phases ended — and tickets for the upcoming Women’s World Cup went on general sale. And the numbers are encouraging. According to FIFA, 515,000 tickets were sold through the first four phases of the ticket-selling process, before the tickets went up for general sale.

FC Edmonton wrapped up its Arizona preseason schedule with a 5-0 win over a bunch of trialists looking for work with the PASL expansion club, the Phoenix Monsoon.

FC Edmonton added some Caribbean flavour to its lineup — and then hammered developmental side FC Tucson 6-1 Friday night in the NASL club’s second to last preseason tilt of its Arizona trip. The team has signed Trinidad and Tobago attacking midfielder Conrad Smith (who also goes by “Conrod Smith,” but he has informed the club he prefers “Conrad”), who most recently spent time with the Caribbean nation’s most famous club, Joe Public FC.

Jay Nolly will start his first game in MLS since 2007, when he goes between the sticks for the Vancouver Whitecaps for Saturday’s season opener against Toronto FC. Like a lot of players on expansion clubs — no matter what the league — Nolly told media Friday at Empire Field that the Whitecaps can exceed the low expectations placed upon them by the pundits. After all, in MLS, there is a history of expansion teams walking into a league with a low salary cap and high roster turnovers and winning. Chicago won it all in an expansion season. The Seattle Sounders have been to the playoffs each of their first two years in the league, and have two U.S. Open Cups. Nolly believes the Whitecaps will benefit from consistency. “We’ve brought, 10, 11, 15 guys from last year along,” said Nolly.

ussell Teibert and his teammates on the Canadian U-20 will look to the recent success of our U-17 program for inspiration. Teibert will leave the Vancouver Whitecaps Sunday, the day after they open the MLS season against Toronto FC, to head to Florida for the national U-20 camp. The Canadian team will then head to Guatemala for the CONCACAF qualifiers for the U-20 World Cup.

Russell Teibert’s signing wasn’t a surprise. But his designation as a Generation Adidas prospect does represent a historic moment for Canadian soccer fans. Both Toronto FC and the Whitecaps signed trialists on Thursday, filling out their rosters ahead of the MLS opener. But Teibert was the biggest news of the lot.

The Vancouver Whitecaps are taking a page out of the Winnipeg Jets’ book. The Whitecaps are urging their fans to turn Empire Stadium into a sea of white seats for Saturday’s MLS opener against Toronto FC, similar to the “Whiteout” campaigns the Jets ran during their playoff runs before the NHL franchise moved to Phoenix. The Coyotes have also tried the Whiteout campaign, but it’s hard to pull off with all those pesky empty seats messing up your plans.

Last week’s preseason brawl between Real Salt Lake and Sporting Kansas City has resulted in some supplemental justice from MLS. RSL defender Jamison Olave got a US$250 fine for Tweeting about his displeasure for the match official after last Wednesday’s game was abandoned in the second half because of the fisticuffs. That’s right. The fighting and fouling hasn’t earned anyone a suspension or fine as of yet — but Tweeting about a referee losing control of the game… well

It’s become obligatory for every sports journalist to provide season previews for the league he or she covers. It’s automatic, and a great space killer! In that vein, The 11 presents its “waited until the last possible second before the regular season” season preview! Why the wait? Because it’s hard to figure out the East. The West? Wow, a lot of power and depth there. As for the East? Last season, New York and Columbus and six other mediocre to bad to awful clubs were in the conference. New York and Columbus left them all in the dust.