Julian de Guzman's knee injury won't allow him to take the field for Canada in its two upcoming do-or-die World Cup qualifiers. But he's still going along for the ride.

No doubt there would have been questions about the exclusion of veteran Will Johnson, who has featured in a couple of Toronto FC matches since recovering from a broken leg — an injury suffered while scoring arguably the most dramatic goal in the history of the Voyageurs Cup.

If there is one Canadian player who has the “coach puts my name in the lineup in pen” distinction, it is Janouk Charbonneau of FC Montreal.

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.

Cyle Larin scored for Orlando City Sunday and played the full 90 minutes in a 2-2 draw with the Chicago Fire. Larin continues to lead all Canadians in either MLS or NASL in terms of minutes played.

Toronto FC’s Tosaint Ricketts scored his first MLS goal Wednesday, a game-winner against Real Salt Lake. The Canadian forward, who recently signed with the Reds, is one of 40 Canadians who have got onto the field for an MLS or NASL team so far this season. Last year, in between the two leagues that count Canadians as domestics on Canadian sides …

The Ottawa Fury has not only won three NASL matches in a row, the club is spiking in terms of minutes on the pitch it is providing to its Canadian players.

In Saturday’s win in Jacksonville’s 40-plus C heat (with the humidity), the Ottawa Fury gave 464 of a possible 990 minutes playing time to Canadians. Canadian Carl Haworth scored the second goal of the game in a 2-0 win. And, with that, Ottawa not only leads all NASL and MLS teams in terms of giving minutes to Canadians, the Fury …

So, despite all the good Canadian news from the Whitecaps, after the team's two matches this past week, its season-long average of minutes played by Canadians per match dipped below 90. That means the Whitecaps average less than one full 90 minute session for a Canadian player per game. And that puts them far behind the four other Canadian MLS and NASL sides.

In Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Colorado, the Whitecaps didn’t have a Canadian in the starting lineup, and didn’t have a Canadian come off the bench, either. That’s not the only depressing news when it comes to minutes played by Canadians in the major North American leagues. The Montreal Impact only had three minutes played by a Canadian this past weekend — Patrice Bernier in a substitute role.