Keven Aleman and Bryce Alderson come from the junior wings of two rival Canadian franchises — Toronto FC and the Vancouver Whitecaps — but they have the same goal. To get to the U-17 World Cup. And that’s a dream they can realize on Wednesday.

Matt Lam may be gone (for now) but he's definitely not forgotten. Lam is a member of JEF United — for this season at least — but the team that loaned him out will try to turn the Canadian midfielder’s move to Japan into a public-relations coup. FC Edmonton plans to keep its fans updated on Lam's progress in the Japanese second division.

TFC Academy accounted for five of Canada’s goals in an 8-0 rout over Barbados in CONCACAF U-17 men’s championship Thursday in Jamaica. Michael Petrasso scored three times in just 69 minutes on the pitch, while Keven Aleman scored twice in 58 minutes as the Canadians earned themselves a spot in the quarter-finals of the tournament.

These are signs that the women’s game isn’t getting stronger; in fact, we may be seeing the same trend that we’ve seen with women’s hockey. After a surge in interest in the 2000s, the game is shrinking rather than growing.

It was a fascinating exercise to go through a couple of hours worth of tweets after Arsenal’s stunning 2-1 win over Barcelona in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie. The pundits are one thing, but when the tweets come from players or, in the case of Eskandarian, recently retired players, it’s amazing to see people who are (or recently were) paid to play the game become fans.

A Canadian Soccer Association delegation has delivered the bid book for the 2015 Women's World Cup to FIFA headquarters in Zurich. The delegation, which included federal Minister of State (Sport) Gary Lunn, Canadian Soccer Association President Dominic Maestracci, Vice-President Victor Montagliani and General Secretary Peter Montopoli, met with FIFA officials Tuesday, including President Sepp Blatter.

According to FIFA’s international match calendar, Canada’s senior men’s team will face Belarus March 29 in Antalya, Turkey. But FIFA announced Monday that it is investigating two international friendlies that were played in the Mediterranean resort. Last Wednesday, Estonia drew Bulgaria 2-2 and Latvia defeated Bolivia 2-1 in a doubleheader played in Antalya. In those two games, all seven goals were scored on penalties.

Trialist Gianluca Zavarise scored and was sent off as Toronto FC lost 3-1 to Dinamo Zagreb Thursday in their final training match in Turkey. Despite being without veteran Igor Biscan — the former Liverpool man was out with injury — and Brazilian-born midfielder Sammir, who has been linked to a move to Fiorentina, the Croats triumphed in a game that …

The kid they call the Greek Messi got a gift. Ioannis Fetfatzidis placed a shot underneath the crossbar after a miscue from Canadian defender Ada Straith — and his goal was enough to give Greece a 1-0 win Wednesday in Larissa.

FC Edmonton is looking more and more like the farm club of JEF United. On Monday, the club announced that local product Matt Lam will leave on loan to the Japanese second-division side, following former FC Edmonton coach Dwight Lodeweges and Dutch veteran midfielder Sander Van Gessel.