Toronto FC doesn’t begin group stage play in the CONCACAF Champions League until Thursday night, but it already knows that its path to qualification for the quarter-finals has taken a weird turn.

Canada likely won’t have reigning national player of the year Atiba Hutchinson available for the beginning of the World Cup qualifying schedule. Canadian national team coach Stephen Hart said in a conference call Thursday that Hutchinson is still recovering from meniscus surgery in June. The injury forced Hutchinson to miss two of Canada’s three games at the Gold Cup.

Two great moments of indivual skill from Ryan Johnson ensured that Toronto FC’s CONCACAF Champions League campaign will continue into the group stages.

And, having the games in one city does make sense. While the Canadian Soccer Association won’t release ticket info until later this week, there are strong indications from the CSA there will be multi-game ticket packages available.

If Canada qualifies out of round two of the CONCACAF qualifiers, it knows that it won’t have to face continental powerhouses United States and Mexico in round three.

A familiar name to Montreal Impact fans helped San Francisco to a 1-0 win over the Seattle Sounders in the first leg of their CONCACAF Champions League qualifier on Tuesday. After Sounders defender Jeff Parke was whistled for a hand ball in the area, Roberto Brown went to the spot and slammed home the penalty kick to give the Panamanian side a slender lead, with a game in Seattle still to go.

Now that Toronto FC has the Canadian title, it will host Nicaraguan reps Real Esteli in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League preliminary stage on July 27, the exact same time that the MLS All-Stars will take on Manchester United at Red Bull Arena. Hmm. A game that means something in an international competition or an exhibition match? Well, that’s a no-brainer, right?

So, in the end, the “football tsunami” that Jack Warner had promised never came to pass. One of the most controversial figures in the soccer world went out quietly Monday, as Warner resigned from all of his posts — including his vice presidency of FIFA and his presidency of CONCACAF — in exchange for the continued presumption of innocence.

Uruguay, far more accustomed to the rareified air than the Canadians, was frustrated through the first half. But Mascia, who has been linked with a move to Chelsea, opened the scoring in a disastrous second half which saw Canada make numerous defensive errors, concede a penalty and lose goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau to a knee injury. When the dust settled, Canada had fallen 3-0.

Canada knows that it must go to Kansas City and beat Panama, which leads the group with six points. (The U.S. and Canada have three each). If Canada beats Panama, and the U.S., as expected, beats Guadeloupe, we would have a three-way tie for first. And this is where it gets interesting. The Gold Cup tiebreakers — when more than two teams finish even on points, that is — is the goal difference in the matches played between the teams in question. In real English: The goals in the Guadeloupe games won’t count.