“That’s the romance of the Cup,” said Miller after FC Edmonton finished training in the blustery winds and light snow Tuesday at Clarke Stadium. “It’s filled with clangers. And we hope we have another clanger tomorrow night.”

Hanson Boakai, who graduates from high school on Thursday, put in one of the most dominating individual performances in the history of the Voyageurs’ Cup. FC Edmonton eliminated the Ottawa Fury with a 3-1 win, and will face the Montreal Impact next Wednesday at Clarke Stadium in the first leg of their Amway Canadian Championship semifinal.

“If you would have asked me before the first game what would have been the perfect result, I would have said 5-0,” said Fury coach Marc Dos Santos after the team’s Tuesday evening training session at Clarke Stadium. “But, if you are going to have a tie, a nil-nil score is the best score you can have. It leaves everything wide open for the second game, you’ve given yourself a chance.”

Miller said that he felt the Eddies should have won the first leg going away. “In the game in Ottawa, we should have scored two or three. Ottawa created next to nothing, in all honesty.”

In an announcement that surprises absolutely no one who follows the NASL on a regular basis, Ottawa Fury forward Oliver Minatel has been named the league’s player of the week.

“In my life, I’ve never said so many bad words in such a short period of time. I should have been arrested, I was that angry. I said it after the Ottawa game and I will say it again, the standard of the officiating has got to be better."

In a game that had very few decent chances, FCE had a wonderful chance to steal the game at the death. Striker Frank Jonke got the ball in the middle of the box after Horace James was able to slide and make a pass after recovering his own blocked shot. But Ottawa keeper Devala Gorrick was able to make a sliding stop.

And the new system isn't as cut-and-dried for Canadian followers of the NASL as it is for those in the United States and the rest of the world.

Really, the new scenario is the best thing the NASL teams could have asked for.

“Hopefully we’ll just have the four league games left plus Amway Canadian Championship games on the old turf,” said FC Edmonton General Manager Rod Proudfoot. “We felt that council was very thorough today. They had lots of questions. That’s fine with us.”