The news coming out of the Ottawa Fury camp isn't pretty; midfielder Julian de Guzman is expected to be out four to six weeks with a knee tendon issue. He was hurt in training last week.

But, because the Eddies have a bye next weekend, the call-ups won't affect the team greatly. Corea will miss one match. Ledgerwood won't miss any. Both players will be back in the lineup for the final game of the spring season, when the Eddies face Fort Lauderdale on June 12.

But this is all that matters: With games left against El Salvador (home) and Honduras (away), Canada still controls its own destiny. At the start of this group stage, we would have taken this scenario. Gladly. Two games left, and all to play for — with no games left against Mexico.

Life isn’t like a John Hughes film. In real life, the socially awkward guy who listens to Echo and the Bunnymen doesn’t end up with the most popular girl in high school. In real life, if the scrawny kid challenges the neighbourhood bully to a fight, he comes home with his own blood on his shirt and there’s fewer teeth in his mouth than he began the day with.

“Down here in Edmonton, I can’t really say much about it!” laughed Corea after the Eddies’ training-camp session Wednesday at Commonwealth Fieldhouse. “I might get my head chopped off by the gaffer and some of the guys here. But I want my team to qualify.”

With the likes of Cyle Larin and Junior Hoilett in the ranks, the Canadian men’s national team has received an injection of new blood. But, really, this team will likely only go as far as Atiba Hutchinson, Julian de Guzman and Will Johnson can take it...

But, then, why are so many of us so despondent after getting a point in Central America on a field so choppy, it made pastures seem like Bundesliga-level playing surfaces? Is it because we assumed that El Salvador’s “B” team would be little better than a PDL side?

Corea will join the El Salvador national side that’s in the midst of turmoil.

Canada will begin the next stage of World Cup qualifying in November. To make it to CONCACAF’s infamous “Hex,” Canada will need to finish first or second in a group that includes Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras. Coach Benito Floro thinks that Mexico is guaranteed a spot — so it’ll be between Canada and the two Central American nations for that second slot...

"I'm always thinking about the club longer term; should certain players move on and not sign with the club, we have to always think that the club is more important than any one player or even two or three players. So this is as much building for the future for the club, he's 23, he's young, he's hungry to play and happy to be here."