So, when news hit Monday (again, sigh) that MLS might look at a winter schedule, a charge that the league denied, I couldn’t help but feel that this was a lot like November, 2010 all over again.

MLS is at that cocoon stage; it was nurtured in a controlled environment filled with salary caps, allocations and draft orders. It beat the odds, as pro soccer hasn’t been a survival industry on this continent. But, soon it will be ready to fly away; commissioner Don Garber has repeated this over and over — that MLS will be one of the world’s top leagues in 10 years.

That’s because these sort of speculative articles keep the new franchise in the hearts and minds of New Yorkers — and that’s important, because the new team will start play in 2015 in a temporary venue, while it searches for a home.

So, Whitecaps fans have something to chew on Wednesday morning. Would the Caps have been able to overcome the Galaxy by a 3-1 count Saturday had Johnny Leveron been sent off for his early two-footed scissor challenge on the Galaxy’s Jose Villarreal?

But here’s the irony. While Canadian players are considered “internationals” on the rosters of U.S. MLS teams, they are considered “domestics” on USL rosters.

So, based on that logic, if MLS was to allow Canadians to be registered in America as domestics, well, all that U.S. Immigration would care about is if the Canadian player coming in was legally entitled to work in the U.S. or not.

Fair enough. And you can't find anything in the P-1, O-1 or H2B U.S. work visa applications that specifically mention Canadians. But this begs another question — if it's considered discriminatory for Americans to single out Canadians for preferential treatment, why is it NOT discriminatory for Canadian teams to give that same preferential treatment to Americans?

Major League Soccer has pledged to a lot more to aid the professional development of its referees — but it will not tolerate extended protests from players and coaches.

And it got good news, big time. As the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Convention sets up shop in Indianapolis, NASL stole the thunder from MLS — which is holding its SuperDraft on Thursday — with two major announcements.

“I’ve worked for Don, I have worked with Don, I’ve known Don for probably 17 years. When the time is right to have those conversation, both he and I will know,” said Peterson.