“Shamit, and I’ve said this before, if there is a better young player in our league, I have yet to see it. I think he is so consistent and I think he’ll be a big part of the national-team program moving forward.”

Daniel Worthington, the coach of the Canadian U-20 women’s team, treated Sunday’s CONCACAF final like a glorified friendly.

BC Place offers the advantage of playing on artificial turf. Friday’s game likely has killed the “Canada-will-always-want-to-play-men’s-games-on-grass” argument dead. Now, saying “but they have to play on grass” will be like admitting to people that you own rap-metal records. It’s a dated argument.

“I have to say I am fairly disappointed in the Jamaican federation. Here is a player [Laing] who they take all the way to Korea for a friendly, but they know he’s suspended for the next four [World Cup qualifying] matches. And they know this will have a huge impact on his club. They have not shown any respect to the club at all. The Canadian association asked if Mallan would be available for the most recent camp [Tuesday friendly with Ghana] and they were very understanding when I said we needed him because it’s an important time for the club. Of course, that was before Mallan got injured. But it shows the difference in class between the two federations. I’m not saying Lance Laing is such a great player that we can’t play without him; no player is that good. But, the Jamaican federation needs to respect the spirit of the game.”

Before 40 seconds had expired, the Canadian hopes of hanging in with the host Americans went out the window; all because a group of players started the game like a group of deer caught in headlights. It’s impossible to fault one player on the Americans’ opening goal; you have to fault all 10 men in red on the field.

But at no time in that scoreless 2013 run did Canada have a chance as clear-cut, as golden, as the one that Cyle Larin spurned in the first half of the match in Carson, Calif. against El Salvador.

Canadian national-team coach Benito Floro is working with three “new” players as the team prepares to begin its qualification process for the 2018 World Cup. FC Dallas striker Tesho Akindele, FC Edmonton defender Mallan Roberts and, um, Portland Timbers midfielder Will Johnson are all new players, in Floro’s eyes. Wait? Will Johnson? The Canadian national-team veteran? Floro put him in …

Canadian Soccer Association board member Amelia Salehabadi-Fouques will submit a motion that the organization pull out of FIFA and CONCACAF. In a statement made public on her website (CLICK HERE), the Quebec board member pledges to make a motion at Saturday’s CSA board meeting that would initiate a temporary separation between the CSA and FIFA. Of course, her motion calls …

The decision has been made. FC Dallas forward Tesho Akindele has chosen to represent Canada.

FC Edmonton left winger Lance Laing will be heading to South America.