Almost out of nowhere, it seems, Ricketts sits just six goals back of Dwayne De Rosario’s all-time Canadian record of 22 goals.

“The message in meetings is not to be scared,” said Cornelius. “The first-timers have been told to show our football, to show our individual qualities. John wants the players to express themselves, and not be afraid to make mistakes. With the system John is trying to bring in, we are going to make mistakes. We have to learn to be better.”

“They have a real fighting spirit, like the Canadians.” And, Herdman says the Aussies can burn you with plenty of scoring threats around the park.

Toronto FC has added another Kiwi piece to the puzzle.

Kevin Payne took over as Toronto FC’s general manager and president so close to the MLS SuperDraft and the start of the 2013 preseason, that he didn’t have much time to design a grand plan for the club.

"My feeling about Ryan is that he's going to be leading this team for five years to come and if I have to wait a couple of months for him to start that process, I can afford to wait," Payne said. "I'd rather do that than make the wrong decision or a decision I didn't want to make for the short term."

On Thursday, the ‘Caps announced that Gordon Forrest will take over the U-18 Residency, the U-23 PDL team and will also manage the development of the club’s coaching staff. Basically, he’ll coach the coaches.

An audacious first-half chip from Diana Matheson and a cool second-half finish from Christine Sinclair gave Canada a 2-0 win over New Zealand in the opening match of the Matchworld Women’s World Cup.

“We create some technical blueprints in each game,” Herdman said during a conference call with media on Wednesday.

But, for players on the fringes of teams, this is nail-biting time, as this is the time clubs may need to make salary and roster room to fit in new additions. And, Michael Boxall became a victim of the numbers game Friday, as he was waived by the Vancouver Whitecaps.