But national coach Stephen Hart made it clear in a conference call Thursday that he thinks the atmosphere can get a heck of a lot better — and if it wasn’t for the travel issues, he’d prefer to have the team move around Canada rather than call Toronto its sole home.

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.”

The Reds' CONCACAF Champions League group stage match with FC Dallas was abandoned on Wednesday after 45 minutes due to lightning and a tornado warning across southern Ontario. The game will replayed in its entirety on Thursday at 10:15 a.m. ET, so the 1-0 lead that Dallas held at the time of the stoppage has been erased.

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.

Super-agency CAA Sports looks to have learned from last year’s lackadaisical summer season of international friendlies in Toronto. On Monday Major League Soccer announced that Juventus will face Sporting Lisbon at BMO Field on July 23. The match will be part of the Herbalife World Football Challenge, a series of friendlies held throughout North America which includes a July 18 match between the Vancouver Whitecaps and Manchester City.

“We specifically went to attract a South American team and we thought that Ecuador physically, beside the obvious style of play, would match against the sort of opposition that we would have to play,” said national-team coach Stephen Hart.

One night wasn't enough to dry out BMO Field. After Wednesday night's Nutrilite Canadian Championship final was abandoned due to lightning and a waterlogged pitch, plans to replay the game on Thursday morning at 11 a.m. EST were also canceled.

LS has decided to keep its championship game at a neutral-site venue. And, it will go back to the safety of a warm-weather site for the Nov. 20 MLS Cup. The league announced Tuesday that the game will be awarded to the Home Depot Centre, home of the Los Angeles Galaxy and Chivas USA.