At the Gold Cup, Canada’s strikers were the national team’s weakest links. So, with the start of World Cup qualifying just weeks away, can national coach Stephen Hart afford not to call Olivier Occean into the squad?

As Canada prepares to begin its World Cup qualifying campaign — which kicks off Sept. 2 against Puerto Rico — coach Stephen Hart has a lot on his plate. With that in mind, The 11, with some input from our readers, has created a list of players — not including Junior Hoilett, he’s been talked about ad nauseam already— who didn’t take part in the Gold Cup and could inject some life into the Canadian squad.

It is Vancouver’s first season in Major League Soccer, and you already have to wonder if the city is suffering from the same friendly fatigue we have seen developing in other North American cities.

Carolina Morace’s skin has been made of Teflon. The Canadian national women’s coach has got what amounts to a free pass from soccer fans and the media in this country. In the wake of Canada’s humiliating 4-0 defeat to France Thursday at the Women’s World Cup, the questions that haven’t been asked of Morace need to come to the surface.

CBC’s broadcast of the Women’s World Cup opener between Canada and the No. 1 ranked Germans got ratings that the men’s program can only dream about — but didn’t come close to the kind of numbers CBC pulled in for major group-stage games of the men’s World Cup last year.

Dutch club PSV Eindhoven confirmed Tuesday that Canadian player of the year Atiba Hutchinson will need six weeks to recover from knee surgery. Hutchinson went under the knife Monday to repair a meniscus injury, after returning to the Netherlands from Canada's disappointing campaign at the Gold Cup. Hutchinson missed two of Canada's three matches due to injury.

Super-agency CAA Sports looks to have learned from last year’s lackadaisical summer season of international friendlies in Toronto. On Monday Major League Soccer announced that Juventus will face Sporting Lisbon at BMO Field on July 23. The match will be part of the Herbalife World Football Challenge, a series of friendlies held throughout North America which includes a July 18 match between the Vancouver Whitecaps and Manchester City.

Canadian soccer fans are waiting on the status of injured midfielder Atiba Hutchinson. A full prognosis on Hutchinson’s injured knee is expected this week. Last week, PSV Eindhoven manager Fred Rutten told the club’s website that it was “a huge disappointment” to see the Canadian player of the year return from the Gold Cup with a knee injury

Yuri Studin, the president of the Greater Toronto Area’s Spartacus Soccer Club, has known Joseph Di Chiara since the boy was in the early stages of elementary school. He remembers young Joseph as not being tough enough to even keep up with his sister on the soccer pitch. Now, Studin is beaming with pride. After coming in as a sub last Saturday in a match against Terek Grozny, Di Chiara, now 19, got his first start Wednesday in the Russian Premier League in the sky blue shirt of Kryliya Sovetov, a 3-0 home loss to Anzhi Makhachkala.

FK Rad confirmed Wednesday that Canadian national-team keeper Milan Borjan has signed a contract with Turkish side Sivasspor. The club announced on its website that Borjan was in Turkey and signed a deal for an undisclosed fee.