If you add the ages of Sadi Jalali and Kianz Froese Gonzalez together, you would still be short of 33 — the age of FC Edmonton veteran midfielder Ilja Van Leerdam. But the two teens were on the same indoor pitch as the veteran at Edmonton’s Victoria Soccer Club Thursday morning.

Teenagers Sadi Jalali and Kianz Froese Gonzalez have committed to leave Canada and play club football in Germany — but they have made FC Edmonton their Plan B.

“It feels great, always felt that I could contribute a lot to the national side and here I am and I hope against Puerto Rico I’ll show again that I deserve to be here,” said Occean Sunday.

At the Gold Cup, Canada’s strikers were the national team’s weakest links. So, with the start of World Cup qualifying just weeks away, can national coach Stephen Hart afford not to call Olivier Occean into the squad?

As Canada prepares to begin its World Cup qualifying campaign — which kicks off Sept. 2 against Puerto Rico — coach Stephen Hart has a lot on his plate. With that in mind, The 11, with some input from our readers, has created a list of players — not including Junior Hoilett, he’s been talked about ad nauseam already— who didn’t take part in the Gold Cup and could inject some life into the Canadian squad.

But the Japanese upset will send shockwaves through the Canadian Soccer Association as well. Japan has smashed the idea that the European professionalism can’t be matched.

CBC’s broadcast of the Women’s World Cup opener between Canada and the No. 1 ranked Germans got ratings that the men’s program can only dream about — but didn’t come close to the kind of numbers CBC pulled in for major group-stage games of the men’s World Cup last year.

A 2009 Canadian Soccer League match between the Montreal Impact’s reserve team and Toronto Croatia has been linked to a major European match-fixing ring.

On Friday, the lottery phases ended — and tickets for the upcoming Women’s World Cup went on general sale. And the numbers are encouraging. According to FIFA, 515,000 tickets were sold through the first four phases of the ticket-selling process, before the tickets went up for general sale.

FIFA has announced that Zimbabwe has withdrawn its bid for the 2015 Women’s World Cup, leaving Canada as the only bidder left. Canada’s official bid book was presented to FIFA in mid-February. But, while it’s almost a certainty that FIFA will confirm the Canadian Soccer Association's successful bid on March 3, Canada is not yet officially declared the host.