So what we know from this is that the opinions on the panel were mixed. Some thought that Morrow should be taken off the hook, and others didn’t. It gives fans some needed insight into the obstacles a team or player must overcome in order to overturn a referee’s decision.

Thanks to a slew of new signings and culling of Canadian players from the first-team lineup, Jonathan Osorio is now the only player from this country who can realistically hope for a regular starting job on Toronto FC...

Issue 5 of Plastic Pitch, out now, represents our most pain-staking effort. This issue is a labour of love, of passion for the Canadian game — and asks questions about our Canadian identity within the game. It should easily become the most talked-about issue we’ve put out.

Montreal’s fans are different than soccer supporters you’d find in the rest of Canada. They feel the pull of their unique Quebecois heritage; if a Canadian league ever launched, they might constitute the most difficult market in which to succeed. So, we asked them... What’s more important: The Impact developing Canadian soccer players, or the Impact doing what needs to be done in order to win games in a predominantly American league?

Bryce Alderson  was a Generation Adidas player as a teenager. But the Canadian never played a minute for the Whitecaps in Major League Soccer. Still, the Whitecaps wanted him back in 2015 — and envisoned Alderson being a big part of their new USL-PRO team. But, after years of waiting for a shot on the big stage, Alderson said no...

Lowball contract offers. Teams that don’t want to “waste” precious international roster spots on a Canadians. A player being told that he’ll get a chance to make a team once he gets a U.S. green card. These are the realities of Canadians trying to play in North America. In NASL and MLS, Americans are allowed to be treated as domestic players on Canadian teams. But, on the American teams, Canadians are treated as internationals. Here’s a look at the domino effect of roster inequality in North America...

“Until two to three years ago, the relationship was non-existent,” says Montagliani. “Basically, we were a foregone conclusion to our friends from the south. But we have strengthened our relationship, first with the USSF, and now we have better relationships at the MLS level, and the NASL level. Our relationships are improving but, remember, it’s been just two or three years.”

This issue isn’t meant to be anti- American, anti-MLS, anti-NASL or anti-NWSL. It simply asks our readers to consider if we need to change our relationship with our neighbours, or if we possibly need to politely tell them that, thanks, but it’s time for us to be on our way.

We look back on a decade of promises, pledges and calls to action. Gathered in one place, they show that those who want to see Canadian soccer succeed really can’t be sure what to make of MLS, even though the league has been playing games on our soil since 2007...

So, in terms of owners opening the door on free agency, it’s barely open a crack. The lock is off, though — and it will be up to the players to kick it down when this CBA expires five years from now.