“For me, this was definitely a flashback,” said Labbe. “From the Aviators to the Alberta team, I was going back to my roots. Definitely, in 2002, when the under-19 championship was here, that was my first exposure to the national team. I was in the stadium watching them. Now, to be back here, with the national team, it feels like I have come full circle.”

Canadian striker Michael Cox could not come to terms with FC Edmonton on a new deal and will look for other opportunities in 2014.

The weather forecasts are calling for some rather inhospitable conditions for FC Edmonton’s final home game of the season.

“Before the game, I talked to (commissioner) Bill Peterson and I told him no way there’s going to be a trophy presentation tonight,” said Miller. “I told him ‘have you booked a flight for next week?’”

“No, there’s no way we want to see the trophy (presented),” said Miller after FCE’s training session Friday on the grass at Concordia College. “We’ve had a very good week, we’ve had to make one or two changes in personnel. And, anyone who is not motivated to go to New York and play the Cosmos, well that would be hard to believe.”

It will be hard to say the name “Martin Nash” without “Vancouver Whitecaps” being attached to it.

So, when news hit Monday (again, sigh) that MLS might look at a winter schedule, a charge that the league denied, I couldn’t help but feel that this was a lot like November, 2010 all over again.

And, after a lightning delay it was Alen Marcina, the San Antonio Scorpions’ interim boss, who could claim the win over FC Edmonton’s Colin Miller.

The team announced Friday that it will play its first five home games at Keith Harris Stadium, a multipurpose campus facility that has artificial turf and, yes, permanent football lines. The stadium has new bleachers that can accommodate up to 3,000 fans. The Fury stated that the facility can be expanded to handle as many as 5,000 people.

In soccer, enforced parity is deadly. You yourself say that "draws are the norm" in NASL. For the teams placed 2–7, that's more or less true, especially for two teams. Second-place Tampa Bay (five draws) averages 1.4 points per game. In the Bundesliga, that rate would put them in seventh place. NASL's seventh-place Edmonton (also with five draws) averages 1.1 points per game, a rate that's good for 15th place in the Bundesliga (an 18-team league).