“Same old Canada, we’re not scoring,” Herdman admitted. “When we get great opportunities. we’ve got to take them."

Even though Nik Ledgerwood has been in training camp on Alberta soil for the past three weeks, it still hasn’t really hit him that he’ll be playing home games this year, well, at home.

The man who had the open support of the Canadian Soccer Association is now the new president of FIFA. Switzerland’s Gianni Infantino won the presidency Friday after he got 115 of 207 votes on the second ballot. After the first ballot, Infantino had 88 votes while Bahrain’s Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim el-Khalifa earned 85. But, on the second ballot, Infantino …

In his mentions of the new players the Eddies have added to the roster, Jason Plumhoff's name was on the list. Plumhoff spent the 2015 season with Harrisburg City of USL and finished 10th in the league’s scoring race, scoring 10 times in 22 games.

The Maccabiah Games don’t take place until 2017, but the search is on for coaches looking to steer Canada’s soccer teams in the tournament.

The United States is hosting the women’s CONCACAF qualifying tournament for the 2016 Olympics. And Group B — which includes Canada — will be played at Houston’s BBVA Compass Stadium, on a grass field that will be subjected to international rugby just days before the soccer tourney kicks off. Remember that in late January of 2013, the Canadian men’s national team played the United States in Houston. And, many of the Canadian players mentioned the poor quality of the pitch in Houston — which is really a multipurpose facility that is also the home of the MLS’s Houston Dynamo and the NWSL’s Houston Dash.

The FC Edmonton keeper already has a few things on his to-do list: He wants to be the team’s everyday starting goalkeeper; he wants to help the club push into the NASL playoffs, and he wants to impress Canadian national-team coach Benito Floro.

Yet, despite all of these edges, Canada could only manage a 2-2 draw in its CONCACAF Olympic qualifying group-stage finale. Canada had all the advantages, but the Cubans had the guts and, it has to be said, a far superior fitness level in the rarified air of the Denver suburbs.

But, in Friday night’s Pan Am Games bronze-medal match, we were reminded that she still has a lot to learn.

Before the Cyprus Cup kicked off, Canadian national women’s team coach John Herdman talked about how important it would be for his players to remain organized. He talked about how vital it was for the team to keep its shape.