“After Evan had finished warming up, it was time for me to go in and face the shooters,” recalled Smits, who was back in Edmonton on Thursday. “And, any time the ball went over the goal, the fans on that side weren’t trying to just toss the ball back; they were trying to hit me. They were throwing it as hard as they could. They were throwing objects at me.”

Canada has only qualified for the World Cup once — in 1986. But, thanks to a bunch of players who had honed their skills in the Canadian Soccer League, a scrappy and determined national team got very close to making it to USA 1994. That represented the last time Canada got close to a World Cup. We wonder what would have happened to us if the first-division Canadian league would have survived...

“I think there was an intensity level we didn’t have and I don’t understand that,” Canadian coach Sean Fleming said after the game.

To recap: Under the new format, the top team in the group gets an automatic entry into the U-17 World Cup. The second- and third-place finishers will play win-and-in playoff matches that also include the second- and third-place teams from Group A (but, under the new rules, they don't necessarily cross over; the four teams would be ranked based on the points they got in the group stage; then it's 1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3).

While many of Canada’s players are in MLS academies, Lozano is playing senior matches in a league that’s much tougher than MLS.

You couldn’t shake the feeling that Rob Gale, the coach of the Canadian U-20 men’s team, was trying to keep the focus off the high-profile players on his roster.

In 2009, the Montreal Impact gave up two stoppage-time goals to Santos Laguna, and fell at the CONCACAF Champions League’s quarter-final stage. In 2015, the Impact is set to meet Pachuca in the quarter-finals — and the Canadian side is carefully preparating for its Mexican opponent. Can the Impact exorcise the demons of 2009?

“I’m going a year up, so it’s a big achievement for me, again,” said Boakai. “So, I’m really proud of myself for that. I’m happy that the coach picked me, it’s a big tournament. A lot of people are going to be watching, and we’ll have to see what happens.

He’s been involved with Major League Soccer since he made his Toronto FC debut in 2007; but Carl Robinson’s first few months as a head coach haven’t been easy. From the perception that he was the fallback guy in the coaching search, to dealing with a star player who wanted out, Robinson has been under fire before the Whitecaps played their first MLS match of 2014

Because both Canada and Mexico had already qualified for the U-17 Women’s World Cup by winning their semifinal matches, the CONCACAF U-17 Women’s Championship final had the feel of a friendly.