“We can’t say yet what will happen over there (Clarke) one way or the other. Will it be changed in time for next year? I can’t say at this point. People have to be aware that our resources are limited and potholes need to be addressed. Though, I do understand the turf at Clarke has potholes as well.”

And even though the late autumn/early winter conditions in Edmonton won’t be anything close to the July conditions we’ll see at the 2015 Women’s World Cup, Herdman said that getting a friendly in at the stadium where Canada will open the tournament will be vital to the team’s preparations. And, he said the cold can be a coaching tool, to see “if the players can focus on the task at hand.”

“I was talking to my mom last week, and she told me that John might not be coming back,” said national-team keeper Erin McLeod, who was in Calgary Thursday for the launch of the elite women’s team. “I almost had a heart attack. He’s been so phenomenal for this group. For me, especially, I can’t imagine playing for anyone else.”

Last season, at the age of 31, she was at the Vancouver Whitecaps’ W-League camp, The coaching staff offered her the chance to come back for the 2013 season before they found out that the W-League team was going to be folded.

The aging Clarke Stadium turf is certainly taking its toll.The number of non-contact injuries that FC Edmonton players have suffered this season is up to three.

With the announcement that the Islanders won’t be back for spring 2014, the NASL will no longer play the waiting game with the franchise.

And Peterson will try to lend his voice to FC Edmonton’s efforts to get the turf changed out in the city-owned facility. On Monday, Peterson and FCE owner Tom Fath will meet with city officials about the surface.

But Canadian Soccer Association General Secretary Peter Montopoli, who is with the FIFA contingent as they tour the Women’s World Cup 2015 sites, said that the expectation is that the training grounds used by the world’s top national sides will be up to the same quality as the artificial surfaces in the stadiums.

Toronto’s BMO Field, which wasn’t part of the 2015 Women’s World Cup bid but was brought into the 2014 U-20 Women’s World Cup as a replacement for Ottawa, will get Canada’s first two matches, Aug. 5 and Aug. 8, 2014. Montreal will host Canada’s third group-stage match, on Aug. 12, and Olympic Stadium will also get the final.

The Alberta Soccer Association and the club have made plans for an August 7 press conference at Commonwealth Stadium where the new FC Edmonton women’s program will be unveiled.