That’s the thing when you’re the heavy underdog. You can’t afford to switch off for any amount of time. The Fury endured two awful minutes, and undid all of the team’s hard work leading up to that point. The Fury’s back line left the door slightly ajar, and TFC kicked it down.

The final shots on goal? Impact 10, Whitecaps 2. Yes, it finished 5-4 on aggregate, and one more road goal would have given the Whitecaps the tie; but, wow, this second leg wasn’t close.

The second stage of the Canadian Championship got underway Tuesday, as the three MLS teams got into the fray. The first legs provided plenty of talking points:

If a soccer game happens during the height of the NHL playoffs, will anyone hear (or see it)?

So, it was only fitting that Eddie Edward got the chance to meet and greet with his old FC Edmonton teammates at Ottawa International Airport. The Eddies were disembarking from their plane just as the Ottawa Fury players were returning from Charleston, S.C., where they drew the Battery over the weekend in USL play.

But, starting this season, each team is required to start three Canadians for each tournament match.

And what of the Challenge Cup winner? Year after year, the team that wins the senior men’s amateur title is one that has links to pro soccer and the Canadian national-team program. There are former national-team and/or pro players who got real jobs and had families, but still remain in love with the game. There are former and current CIS standouts. There is quality in those teams.

Edmonton has hosted the Commonwealth Games; it’s hosted the World Championships in Athletics. It’s been a part of every major soccer tournament that Canada has hosted — and, in 2015, it will host more Women’s World Cup matches than any other city. The reason for Edmonton’s prominence? Commonwealth Stadium: Even though it was constructed in the 1970s, it still remains the country’s premier sports venue that doesn’t have a roof Canada...

Issey Nakajima-Farran’s soccer career has taken him around the world. England. Japan. Australia. In 2014, he made the decision to come back to Canada — and to make Toronto his home. But, less than two months after he signed with the Reds, he was traded to Montreal — and he’s wondering if coming to MLS was the right choice, after all...

The number was painful to read, painful to report. In a concrete monolith of a stadium that’s built to seat more than 60,000, just 2,777 people came to see FC Edmonton play the Vancouver Whitecaps in their first leg of the Amway Canadian Championship semifinal.