The third issue of PLASTIC PITCH, our national soccer magazine, is out as of right now.

Days after the interviews were done and the framework of the story was crafted, I got a press release from the Scorpions that announced they’d made a trade for Costa Rican César Elizondo. But, Elizondo would have been the eighth international on the roster, and NASL rules allow only seven. So, later in the release, came the news that Saiko had been cut loose from the team.

Last year, Canadian striker Kyle Porter made some positive impressions in his first MLS season — albeit with last-place D.C. United. Now that United has signed new players and shot up the table, Porter has found himself back on the developmental ladder; instead of MLS play, he’s spent a significant part of the season with the Richmond Kickers...

The Scorpions are to the NASL what the Oakland Raiders were to the National Football League in the 1970s. They’re a bunch of so-called bad apples brought together — and then transformed into one of the best units in the league.

“We have had discussion in San Francisco and Los Angeles, and over the next 60 to 90 days we expect to have more discussions in Canada,” said Peterson.

But, when asked about who could be in and who could be out, USL President Tim Holt said Tuesday that the process of adding teams is still ongoing.

Well, the only thing to do is crunch the numbers; to sift through all of the matches in 2014 — both MLS and NASL — and isolate all the games where a Canadian referee has watched over a meeting between a Canadian-based side and an American-based side.

But let’s be clear. If you want to bitch and moan about the Canadian Soccer Association legislating new rules, understand that’s the price that comes with not inviting Canada to the table when this deal was first hatched.

Seventeen-year-old Uday Arora and 15-year-old Chaim Roserie are the two youngest players on the Armada developmental squad’s roster — and both are from the Toronto area.

But, to make room for Costa Rican international Cesar Elizondo, Canadian midfielder Shaun Saiko was released from his contract by the San Antonio Scorpions on Tuesday.