On Monday, NASL announced that Atlanta — which was funded by owners in 2015 — would not return in 2016. Had the owners opted to fund the Silverbacks for another year, the burden would have been especially tough on the Ottawa Fury and FC Edmonton. The Canadian dollar is currently worth just a little over 70 cents US, so the exchange rate on funding an American team would have been brutal.

The new issue, out today, features a vintage shot from the World Cup qualifier which saw Canada qualify for the 1986 World Cup. And what can you find inside the issue?

But, don’t say that we don’t occasionally cave to reader pressure! We’ve crunched the numbers as best as we can (please let us know if you notice we’ve missed a player) and evaluated USL minutes.

The play of Brampton’s Cyle Larin has kickstarted Orlando City’s season; the team can thanks its Canadian rookie, not its star veterans, for getting its first MLS season into top gear...

The Edmonton Aviators may have been a blip in the history of the Canadian soccer. But two of their alumni will make a return to Commonwealth Stadium — where the Aviators played their one and only home season schedule, back in 2004 — when the Canadian women’s team opens the World Cup against China on June 6.

But, when will the ACC grow to more than five teams? That’s the million-dollar question. Because it’s not on the CSA’s imminent to-do list.

“Until two to three years ago, the relationship was non-existent,” says Montagliani. “Basically, we were a foregone conclusion to our friends from the south. But we have strengthened our relationship, first with the USSF, and now we have better relationships at the MLS level, and the NASL level. Our relationships are improving but, remember, it’s been just two or three years.”

We look back on a decade of promises, pledges and calls to action. Gathered in one place, they show that those who want to see Canadian soccer succeed really can’t be sure what to make of MLS, even though the league has been playing games on our soil since 2007...

And it’s at the USL level where the issue of free agency — the divide that separates the union and MLS brass — might be most important. If players can be “parked” in the lower division for the lives of their contracts, including team options, then it’s hard to call USL anything else but a farm system. But, if players who are with MLS teams but don’t get the chance at first-team MLS football are offered the chance to move on, then we can argue that truly, USL is a system that puts the development of the player, first.

Certainly, improving the Impact’s young prospects wasn’t the prime motivation for Saputo to join a consortium that purchased Italian Serie B side, Bologna. But he knows an improvement to the Impact’s youth development stream is a byproduct of the deal.