Ottawa’s Marcel de Jong got behind the Vancouver defenders and got a clear sight of goal. ‘Caps keeper Paolo Tornaghi scrambled off his line and stopped de Jong’s attempt, point blank.

Less than three minutes in, Jonny Steele got the Fury off to a dream start in front of its home fans, with a strike that found the top corner of the goal.

At this time last year (MLS Week 8/NASL Week 4), 26 Canadians had seen the field for their MLS or NASL clubs. This year, 32 Canadians have played in MLS or NASL games so far this season.

This past weekend, the Edmonton teenager made his pro debut, playing 80 minutes in FC Edmonton’s 1-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Rowdies.

“They will be hurting, because it’s their expectation to win every game. But we’re at home, and we have to build on the tremendous defensive performance on Saturday night in Oklahoma. We have to try and keep 11 players on the park, for sure.”

Damn straight that refs are calling the games more closely and more harshly than ever before. And guess what? It’s because fans and the league asked them to do it that way, that’s why.

Yet, this week, we’ll announce a change in the way we do things with our power rankings. We will track the minutes played by Canadians in USL. But, to make sure fair is fair, the USL numbers are not tracked on the same list as MLS and NASL.

But it was a notable opening week in MLS for Canadians: Cyle Larin scored in Orlando City’s remarkable comeback against Real Salt Lake; the Lions came from two goals down in second-half injury time. Toronto FC gave full 90s to Will Johnson and Jonathan Osorio in their 2-0 win at the New York Red Bulls. The Whitecaps started two Canadians.

In fact, the more your teams sucks early in the season,the better your chances of seeing silverware at the end of it. So, Toronto FC fans, don’t worry about a long road trip to start the season; early-season losses are harbingers of big-time success down the road! And, for fans in the respective cities watching the Montreal Impact-Vancouver Whitecaps match, cheer for the other guys! It's the RIGHT thing to do!

So, it feels like Calgary Foothills, which began PDL play last season, is swimming against the tide, at least when it comes to developmental soccer in Canada.