But, that doesn’t mean the Canadian scene was dead when it comes to the North American first and second divisions. This weekend, Bruno Zebie made his NASL debut, coming on as a sub for FC Edmonton in its 1-1 draw with the Fort Lauderdale Strikers. But, what makes it all the more interesting is that his brother, Allan Zebie, started the game.

Canadian midfielder Mozzi Gyorio is suing Minnesota United and the North American Soccer League. The Prince Edward Island-raised Gyorio claims the team breached the terms of the contract, and that the league allowed it to happen.

Now, two years later, it’s looking like the cabal of Miller critics owe the man an apology — at least for the criticisms of how he handled the national side. While Canada flounders through another goalless Gold Cup (as Morrissey once sang: Stop me if you think you’ve heard this one before), Miller’s FC Edmonton leads the NASL in goals scored.

Mason Trafford scores. Hanson Boakai scores. Sadi Jalali scores. Jay Chapman gets his first start. Jordan Hamilton makes his first MLS appearance. Nana Attakora is sent off. FC Edmonton gave a whopping 512 minutes of playing time to Canadians in a 4-0 win over San Antonio.

But, while the Eddies started off the game shorthanded, it was the San Antonio Scorpions who finished with just nine men on the field. And they faced a sombre 4,000-km-plus trip home to Texas from oil-sands territory after receiving a 4-0 hiding from the Eddies to open the NASL fall season.

For the first time, FC Edmonton could have brothers on the field, playing the ball to each other, in an NASL game.

Midfielder Lance Laing says that he’s hopeful that he can play in FC Edmonton’s NASL fall-season opener before he needs to report back to the Jamaican national side.

FC Edmonton coach Colin Miller has been involved in professional soccer for more than three decades. He said Tuesday that, at no time in his career, has he been involved in an injury crisis as severe as the one FC Edmonton is in right now.

With the Canadian women’s national team losing a heartbreaking quarterfinal Saturday at BC Place to the English, this might be the week of weeks where our readers say “oh yeah, I guess MLS had games this weekend. Let me check the phone to see what the scores were.”

The revealing good news/bad news scenario in this week’s Quintessentially Canadian Power Rankings is found in this past weekend’s Vancouver Whitecaps match.