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.

Keeper Maxime Crepeau is out for two weeks — and likely the rest of the tourney if Canada was to advance out of Group C.

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.

Now that Group A has completed its schedule, the picture for Canada and what it needs to do to qualify out of Group C has become crystal clear. If Canada beats Panama on Tuesday evening — even by a single goal — it will get through to the quarter-finals of the Gold Cup. And, barring a miracle result Monday night from Grenada, a draw will likely see the Canadian side going home early.

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.

Canadian men’s national team coach Stephen Hart took some time Friday to chat with the media ahead of Saturday’s Gold Cup match against Guadeloupe in Tampa, Fla. After losing 2-0 to the U.S. in the opener of the regional championship, Canada looks to bounce back against the non-FIFA member island nation.

One day after announcing that women’s national-team coach Carolina Morace would be staying on until at least the 2012 Olympics, the Canadian Soccer Association announced that it has reached an agreement with the women’s team over the compensation of players. The new compensation agreement — the terms of which were not made public — will cover this year and 2012.

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.”

The U.S. stormed their rivals in the opening 15 minutes and were gifted an early goal before Canada could settle down in Detroit. The red and white played a much better second half but big plays at the right moments for the Americans were key to a 2-0 victory Tuesday in the Gold Cup opener for both sides.

Canada’s lineup for the U-17 World Cup will be almost identical to the squad coach Sean Fleming brought to Jamaica for the CONCACAF Championship.