“That’s the romance of the Cup,” said Miller after FC Edmonton finished training in the blustery winds and light snow Tuesday at Clarke Stadium. “It’s filled with clangers. And we hope we have another clanger tomorrow night.”

Born at the wrong time. Born under a bad sign. If Selenia Iacchelli had any luck at all, she might be as familiar to Canadian women’s soccer followers as Diana Matheson, Sophie Schmidt or Desiree Scott. But, Iacchelli had to wait till she was 27 years of age to break into the Canadian soccer mainstream. Her story is remarkable; filled withbroken limbs, career-path changes and a love of frozen yogurt...

“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.”

“We are in a situation where the player hasn’t committed either way, to play for Canada or to play for Scotland. If Fraser opts to play for Scotland, that’s fine, we wish him the best of luck. But, looking at the best interests of our national team, we have made a formal approach to Rangers and the player.”

Before FIFA can officially be approached, the player in question must be invited to a camp or be named to the roster of the new national team. The invite from the national association must come BEFORE a petition can be made to FIFA.

Just before the end of the first half, Hainault came up to join the attack on a corner, and the ex-Houston Dynamo centre back/right back rocketed a volley into the goal after the ball fell to him at the far post.

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.

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.

After a bright start with a 2-1 win over the United States, Canada’s U-20 squad has now lost two in a row at the Marbella Cup in Spain.

Arsenal midfielder Steph Houghton scored the goal that gave GB a 1-0 win over Brazil on Tuesday. Kim Little, the Scottish star on Team GB, is also Arsenal’s leading scorer. She scored 17 goals in 17 games for the Gunners in 2011-12.