The Impact and MLS did all they could do; surgery was conducted on the Impact’s domestic schedule so they would have weekends off leading up to and during the CCL final. They had bye weekends, while Club America had no such advantages. While the Impact spent the weekend prepping for the second leg of the final, Club America had a Sunday match against its fiercest rival, Chivas. That gave the Mexican side little time to get to Montreal and get used to the turf.

“We know what we have to do — we have to go for it. We need three goals. It doesn’t matter if Edmonton scores a goal or they don’t score a goal, we need three. We can give up one, because it doesn’t change our job. Of course, if we give up a second, that’s a problem, because we’d need to score four. And I don’t think anyone has ever come here (Clarke Stadium) and scored four goals. But, for Edmonton, they don’t know how to handle it. They will be asking themselves: Do we defend? Do we play to win? Do we try and stay halfway?”

In the middle of the week, Lance Laing signed a contract extension that will keep him in Eddies blue and white into the 2015 season. And, on Saturday afternoon in the nation’s capital, he once again showed off why he’s become such a valuable part of the team.

Coach Colin Miller promised that his players would be doing a lot of running at that training session after the Eddies laboured to a 0-0 draw with the Ottawa Fury at Commonwealth Stadium. The Eddies went up a man in the 56th minute after Ryan Richter, making his Fury debut after being loaned out from Toronto FC, was sent off.

At the end of the 2013 USL-PRO season, Canadian Philippe Davies had made up his mind. He was going to hang up the cleats. Disillusioned, he was ready to give up the game less than two years after playing in Canada’s Olympic program. Then, he got a call from Ottawa Fury coach Marc Dos Santos, and everything changed...

In the 89th minute, off a free kick from Richie Ryan, Heinemann was able to get position on FCE defender Lance Laing. The ball looped off Heinemann’s head and into the back of the net, giving the Fury a 1-0 win.

Hanson Boakai, who graduates from high school on Thursday, put in one of the most dominating individual performances in the history of the Voyageurs’ Cup. FC Edmonton eliminated the Ottawa Fury with a 3-1 win, and will face the Montreal Impact next Wednesday at Clarke Stadium in the first leg of their Amway Canadian Championship semifinal.

“If you would have asked me before the first game what would have been the perfect result, I would have said 5-0,” said Fury coach Marc Dos Santos after the team’s Tuesday evening training session at Clarke Stadium. “But, if you are going to have a tie, a nil-nil score is the best score you can have. It leaves everything wide open for the second game, you’ve given yourself a chance.”

In a game that had very few decent chances, FCE had a wonderful chance to steal the game at the death. Striker Frank Jonke got the ball in the middle of the box after Horace James was able to slide and make a pass after recovering his own blocked shot. But Ottawa keeper Devala Gorrick was able to make a sliding stop.

enough to get picked in the second round of the 2013 SuperDraft. A year later, the Canadian reflects on a season of frustration and a new beginning in the nation’s capital...