Even when Floro faced the crunch of not having first- or second- or third-choice players readily available, he opted to ignore players on FC Edmonton and Ottawa. And that’s on a roster that looks like one where the coach has decided to bring in some players he has yet to see.

Hanson Boakai will be going to the CONCACAF Championship in Jamaica, but he’ll be the only FC Edmonton player making the trip.

Now, Marcina can add “Soccer Bowl” to his coaching résumé. Two superb goals — a bicycle kick from Rafa Castillo and a great run and finish by Billy Forbes — gave the Scorpions a 2-1 win Saturday night in the NASL Championship game.

“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.

And, if injuries during the fall-season break keep mounting, Miller may need even more reinforcements. The Eddies are now sweating on the health of forward Tomi Ameobi, midfielder Ritchie Jones and keeper Lance Parker.

The Eddies scored six on Sunday. Daryl Fordyce scored 34 seconds into the match, the fastest goal from the start of a game so far this NASL season, and the Eddies were on their way to a 6-1 hiding of the Carolina RailHawks.

The 17-year-old six-foot-four centre back was announced as the Eddies’ newest player Wednesday at St. Joseph’s High School, the team’s base of operations for its academy program.

On Monday, FC Edmonton’s brass brought in each of its players for face-to-face end-of-season meetings. And, on Tuesday, the club announced the status of all its players who were under contract at the end of the 2013 season.

“It was an absolute circus,” Miller said of the pre-game festivities in Fort Lauderdale. “We go off the field at 20 minutes past to get ready for the game, we’re ready to go at 7:30 and we’re waiting for almost half an hour. Anyone involved in professional football knows that’s too much time to wait.”

Crews worked to clear the snow off the artificial pitch in the morning but, by 2 p.m. kickoff, there were patches of ice that could clearly bee seen on the surface. According to Environment Canada’s Weather Office, the temperature at kickoff was -2C, but it felt like -8C with the wind chill. With members of the Canadian national women’s team in attendance ahead of their game Wednesday against South Korea, Clarke Stadium offered a home-field advantage that needed the words “frozen tundra” to do it justice. For the final home game of the season, FCE finally did have a distinct advantage over the opposition.