As far as ominous signs go, this one was pretty stark.
After a dry and temperate May, June brought monsoon season to Toronto, perfectly coinciding with the arrival of the men's national team ahead of their friendly on Sunday against the United States. Carrying on in the same theme, Canadian head coach Stephen Hart revealed on Friday that two players had picked up minor injuries during the team's training camp in Florida.
But Hart was upbeat during the press conference -- almost incongruously so -- when speaking about the upcoming friendly and, more importantly, Canada's return to World Cup qualifying in a week's time.
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"I would like to see a very solid performance from the team, and if the solid performance leads to a victory, then of course I'll be very very happy," he said of the U.S.A. friendly. "But either way, you come out of the game mentally better."
Expect a first-choice lineup against the States, Hart said, as the time for experimentation is over. Given those parameters, Canada's lineup on Sunday should give fans a good idea of who the injured players are.
"One of the injuries was just a matter of training went well, he woke up (and) there was some swelling. So there was no contact, no anything, just maybe some sort of strain," Hart said on Friday, declining to name either of the injured players. "The other injury was muscle-related."
When asked whether the players would be fit to return in time for next Friday's World Cup qualifier in Cuba, Hart said: "Hope is the word."
The injury bug already hit Canada, hard, when Josh Simpson broke his leg last week. And word coming out of the team's opening training session on Sunday suggested Atiba Hutchinson could be one of the players with a knock.
So, as Hart said, yeah... hope is the word.
But don't expect to see any of the domestic-based players on the periphery of the national-team setup -- Terry Dunfield, Patrice Bernier, Shaun Saiko -- called in to replace Simpson or anyone else. At least not right now.
"You don't call players for the sake of calling players, you have to call in the players that you need to fill roles that have been, or may be, in jeopardy," said Hart. "Right now we're going to stay with the 22 players we have in camp, and we'll see how things go."
Depending on the situation, a door could be opened for surprise callup Samuel Piette. Hart insists the 17-year-old is "not here to make up the numbers".
"He's done very very well. I made it quite clear to him, he's come into the squad to fight, to take somebody's position, to make it as difficult (as possible) for me in the selection."
Of course, the Simpson injury (and these new situations) were going to call for some adjustments in the Canadian approach. Hart acknowledged some of the shortcomings as of late, and said the team is working to address them.
"We have a good possession game at times," he said. "I think sometimes we tend to be a bit one-paced, a little bit slow in possession and we've worked really hard at changing the speed of the game, changing the way we attack. We've got to do that more efficiently.
"When all the analysis comes back, we create chances but we're not clinical enough. ... If you're going to play at the highest level, you're not going to get many chances, and we have to get more of a killer instinct in the penalty area."
One of the players who'll be called upon to provide that clinical touch agrees.
"There definitely does have to be a killer instinct in front of goal and going forward," said striker Simeon Jackson. "And that's one we've been working on."
Jackson says improving the team's sharpness comes down to a variety of things -- specific drills in training sessions, renewed mental focus and, at the end of the day, being in the right position and situation to capitalize on chances when they come.
Jackson called the U.S.A. friendly "a good distraction", and agreed it's always a big deal when the cross-border rivals meet -- but clearly his emphasis is on the upcoming World Cup qualifiers. Still, he took a moment to take a shot across the bow.
"We're next-door neighbours," he told the assembled media. "Usually you don't really like your neighbours."
American defender Steve Cherundolo, also at the press conference, attempted to provide some witty retort, but I wasn't listening, since I was still chuckling at Jacko's awesome comedic delivery. He's awesome, y'know.
"You try to keep the same mind set (from one game to the next)," said Jackson. "Make sure you're physically ready, mentally ready, and you go out there and play.
"The first (World Cup qualifier, in Cuba) is very important, even though it's away. .. It's definitely going to be tough, we know that, but it's important to go out there and get a result and give ourselves momentum to carry back home."
When asked if a win was what Canada needed to get in Cuba, Hart smiled and said a win would be "ideal".
Indeed it would, especially as the adversity continues to pile up for the Canadian team. But then, Hart's been around the program long enough to know that adversity is nothing new in Canadian soccer. Maybe he was upbeat because, sometimes, you've just got to smile because there's nothing else to do.
Or maybe, just maybe, he knows something about this collection of players that we don't. Yet.
We'll all find out this Sunday.
Rain is in the forecast -- but then, even the experts are caught by surprise every now and again.
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