But, when asked about who could be in and who could be out, USL President Tim Holt said Tuesday that the process of adding teams is still ongoing.

Well, the only thing to do is crunch the numbers; to sift through all of the matches in 2014 — both MLS and NASL — and isolate all the games where a Canadian referee has watched over a meeting between a Canadian-based side and an American-based side.

But if MLS wants to see more exciting games, more late match-winners, especially with its new TV deals in the United States, it could look at reducing the number of teams that make the playoffs. As it becomes more competitive to get a playoff spot, coaches and players may not be as willing to settle for draws.

So, as MLS looks to tweaking or making major changes to the international rule as it relates to Canadians, the Canadian Soccer Association and the league need to set a goal that’s more cut-and-dried than giving more roster spots or even, gasp, dropping the Canadians-as-internationals-on-American-teams designation. Someone needs to write down a number. And that number would be a ballpark average of first-team minutes for Canadians.

The Whitecaps hope to have their USL-PRO affiliate in New Westminster for the 2015 season — which would be far more convenient for the club than to ship prospects to the Carolinas for their professional seasoning. The proximity of the USL-PRO affiliate to Vancouver would, logically, allow for the team to better supervise and manage its young players.

Vancouver lobbied hard to make sure it got the 2015 Women’s World Cup final. And, if Canada does win the bid for the 2026 World Cup, you can be sure that Vancouver will make every effort to convince FIFA and the Canadian Soccer Association that the final should be held there, too...

Issey Nakajima-Farran’s soccer career has taken him around the world. England. Japan. Australia. In 2014, he made the decision to come back to Canada — and to make Toronto his home. But, less than two months after he signed with the Reds, he was traded to Montreal — and he’s wondering if coming to MLS was the right choice, after all...

At the end of the 2013 USL-PRO season, Canadian Philippe Davies had made up his mind. He was going to hang up the cleats. Disillusioned, he was ready to give up the game less than two years after playing in Canada’s Olympic program. Then, he got a call from Ottawa Fury coach Marc Dos Santos, and everything changed...

Frank Yallop was widely expected to take over the reins of the Vancouver Whitecaps; instead, the former Canadian national-team coach chose to steer the Chicago Fire. In this interview, he tells us why he chose the Windy City, and how he hopes MLS can help Canadian soccer in the future...

Mallan Roberts is a man of two nations, but he only officially belongs to one of them.