So, with that in mind, I did several Ticketmaster searches Wednesday for tickets for the Canada-St. Lucia game on Friday. And it was troubling to see just how easy it was to get large numbers of seats. Want eight seats together in the Canada supporters’ section? Was able to find them in section 117, at the south end of the stadium.

Adrian Cann’s knee injury has transformed him from Canadian national team hopeful to superfan. But the Toronto FC central defender is happy to do what he can to rally fan support ahead of Canada’s Friday home date with St. Lucia — the opening of World Cup qualifying. “This game is my passion my life,” said Cann. “But I can do whatever I can to rally support for the team.”

But Sportsnet will not be picking up the Oct. 7 away match to St. Lucia and the Nov. 11 trip to St. Kitts and Nevis. This isn’t unusual; in qualifying for the 2010 World Cup, Sportsnet didn’t pick up the broadcasts for Canada’s early-round away fixtures in the Caribbean, either.

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.

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.

In a game that Canada needed to win in order to advance to the round of 16 at the U-17 World Cup, it could only really trouble Rwandan keeper Marcel Nzaroza once in a dour 0-0 draw Saturday in Pachuca, Mexico.

But, on a historic night for Canadian soccer — and a historic night for the U-17 World Cup — goalkeeper Quillan Roberts provided one of the most remarkable goals anyone from this country has scored in an international match at any level. His goal gave Canada a 2-2 draw with England, keeping this country’s hopes alive entering Saturday’s Group C finale against Rwanda.

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.

Stephanie Labbe has won her race to be fit in time for the Women’s World Cup. Labbe, who hurt her knee in Swedish league play and didn’t play in Canada’s friendlies leading up to the World Cup, was named to the women’s national-team roster on Thursday.

Any potential crisis with the Canadian national women’s team has been put off for a little more than a year. The Canadian Soccer Association announced today, in a short press-release, that “Carolina Morace has agreed to remain in her role as head coach of Canada’s Women’s National Team through to the 2012 London Olympic Games. Morace will also continue in her role as the head coach of the Women’s U-20 National Team.”