On Tuesday night, Canada's men's national team played Ghana in a friendly in Washington, D.C. while the Canadian U-23 team played the United States in the third-place game of the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament.

Both the Olympic-qualifying third-place game and the men’s senior team’s friendly are set for Tuesday night. Which Canadian team will Floro coach?

Going into a game against a powerhouse like Mexico, you know Canada’s going to have precious few chances — so, to have any hope at all the conversion rate has got to be decent. Canada had three very good looks; Boakai misplayed the ball, Petrasso hit a poor penalty and Thomas's effort was close, but high.

Of course, Mexico is a powerhouse. But there are other factors at play, too. The game will be held in Sandy, Utah — which means the players have to deal with the challenges that a game at altitude presents. Canada played its first two group-stage matches in Kansas City, a loss to the United States and a win over Panama. Then, the Canadians travelled to the Denver area for its final group-stage game, and struggled to a 2-2 draw with Cuba at altitude.

The simple truth is If you have Zebie and Adekugbe on the flanks, that Canadian weakness isn’t evident. Instead, Floro is sending out makeshift fullbacks and hoping they can deal with the likes of Arroyo. And, remember that, in the opener against the U.S., Canada was torched down the wing on the Americans’ opening goal.

Before 40 seconds had expired, the Canadian hopes of hanging in with the host Americans went out the window; all because a group of players started the game like a group of deer caught in headlights. It’s impossible to fault one player on the Americans’ opening goal; you have to fault all 10 men in red on the field.

It’s the nature of Canadian soccer supporters to focus who is not on a roster rather than who’s on a roster.

“We are expected to know soon if coaches from European and MLS clubs are going to allow us our players to at least attend all the games and whether it’s possible for them to attend the pre-tournament camp,” Floro said. “We trust that the Canadian USL teams are going to allow players to attend the camp and in all the games. If clubs don’t allow several players to attend the games, it will be much more difficult for us. We hope the clubs will allow all the players with us.”

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