“They got it wrong; the referee got it wrong on Saturday night — and that came from the league,” said Miller.

“This is a local derby, this is,” Miller joked. “We could almost walk there or take bikes or whatever. It’s great; it’s a west-coast rivalry, it’s as close as you can be for a rivalry in our league. It does feel like a genuinely short trip.”

Both Paul Stalteri and Amy Walsh believe that Canadian soccer players — be it boys or girls, men or women — need more chances to play professionally.

On Sunday, he said if the league is done right, it will be a great benefit to the development of soccer Canada.

But, officially, the Canadian Premier League era began Saturday in Whistler B.C., as the new league was ratified by the Canadian Soccer Association.

National registration statistics indicate that the number of female soccer players in Canada is slipping. In the wake of a Women’s World Cup, why are we seeing this trend of slowing interest?

But, when the Mexican, American and Canadian soccer associations joined together Monday in New York to unveil that they would sign a memorandum of understanding to jointly bid for the 2026 World Cup, United States Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati said that, in fact, this tripartite pact had been in the works for years.

For one, well, FIFA rules state that, for senior tournaments, all games have to be played on the same type of surface. So, of COURSE that means Mexican and American venues are going to have to make sure they’ve got artificial turf to match the Canadian standard! Yes! I can’t wait to hear droning international-feed commentators moaning about how brutal the turf temperature is at Azteca Stadium during an afternoon game in July.

Both teams bubbled just under the 270-minute mark when it comes to time played by Canadians.

Now, this is the part where I can tell you what you’ve gotten yourself into. Think of me as the guy at the water cooler on your first day who pulls you aside and tells you how things really work around here.