James Moorhouse, the technical director for USA Soccer, said Edmonton is special to his side. In 2002, the United States beat Kara Lang, Christine Sinclair and the Canadian team in the final of the U-19 Women’s World Championship, the forerunner to the Women’s World Cup. Commonwealth was packed as the home fans hoped for the upset.

“I think that the days of excuses are over. For us, we have the ability to qualify for a spot, and we have to play for it."

Peterson said the league “will explore options on how we can better align ourselves with the CSA’s professional goals.”

Because both Canada and Mexico had already qualified for the U-17 Women’s World Cup by winning their semifinal matches, the CONCACAF U-17 Women’s Championship final had the feel of a friendly.

Canada is already preparing its men’s side for the next round of U-20 World Cup qualifying.

On Thursday, the Canadian Soccer Association released a list of 24 players who will represent Canada at this October’s U-17 World Cup. Of the 24, 21 are on the proper roster, while three are alternates. While FIFA has been notified which three players are alternates, who can only play in order to replace an injured member of the main roster, Fleming wouldn’t reveal which three were on the outside of the bubble.

“We took it seriously this evening,” said Impact gaffer Marco Schallibaum. “They played aggressively with a lot of will. With a little luck we could have scored five or six. We fought through to the end.”

The fat lady hasn't sung yet but the Montreal Impact might be hearing someone practising scales backstage after dropping a 3-0 decision to the San Jose Earthquakes in CONCACAF Group 5 play in front of a sparse crowd at Buck Shaw Stadium.

“Piscu” spent less time in the game than Schallibaum had expected he would. Turfed in the 45th minute for a late, studs-up, tackle from behind on Cordoba, his absence forced Montreal to send in Hassoun Camara and pull Felipe from the midfield as it became a 10-man side for the balance of the match.

“We had to do what was best for our club. We’ve played three games in eight days,” Watson said before mentioning that the lineup Schallibaum sent out came as a bit of a surprise. "We didn’t expect them to field their A-team.”