Another day, another tournament. It does seem that way this summer, with the Women’s World Cup just finished its splendid run, and now for more regionals in a couple of Pan Am Games tournaments and most of all this CONCACAF Gold Cup straight ahead: truly, you cannot stop football, you can only hope to contain it.

Even here in Toronto. Having been shut out of Canada’s first World Cup and with the Pan Ams an arduous drive down the HOV-narrowed road in Hamilton, this Gold Cup is our present as it comes north for the first time, though not before the Canadian men go through their own fast-lane journey. They start in California Wednesday night against El Salvador, progress to Houston on Saturday and finally next Tuesday night are due at BMO Field, taking on Costa Rica in both teams’ final group game.

“We believe in our players, our progress — it’s time to check on where we are step by step,” coach Benito Floro said on a conference call Monday night.

Two years plus a day since taking over a program that was so flat he basically had to pump air into it, Floro has a squad that is in a much different place. If that game against the Ticos were to mean something, it’d be a nice start. They have played low-key friendlies and last month just began 2018 World Cup qualifying. In Cyle Larin and Tesho Akindele, there’s a couple of young goal scorers who are precisely the kind of player Canada’s women’s side lacks. TFC starters Ashtone Morgan and Jonathan Osario will see major minutes as well on a side that is lacking only injured defender Doneil Henry from the young core group that will determine these next few years. True, Julian de Guzman and David Edgar are still around, but Dwayne De Rosario has retired, Atiba Hutchinson is out injured and Will Johnson chose to stay in Portland.

The distant backdrop to this is Canada’s stated aim to make a bid to host the 2026 World Cup, which makes this Gold Cup and upcoming World Cup qualifiers a little bit more high-stakes a proposition for officials and organizers. But for Floro, playing the long game means better results here that will make for a higher ranking and more games against better teams, against the overall goal of 2018 World Cup qualifying (and banging the drum for a Canadian pro league, an idea that’s been tried before and failed, but remains the Arthurian grail of Canadian soccer. He has learned that one well).

In the wake of the Women’s World Cup, what’s most striking from a Canadian competitive standpoint is how very different these the men’s and women’s programs are right now. Kadeisha Buchanan’s trophy for the tournament’s top young player was richly deserved. But along with her old pal Ashley Lawrence, the two amounted to the only new pieces firmly established on a Canadian side that will have to retool and replace some aging players who underperformed — and most importantly, on a stage that’s growing hothouse-fast, unearth an attacker or two of creativity who can find the net. It will not be easy, in a region where the U.S. are the reigning world champions after Sunday’s emphatic win over defenders Japan. This is not such a small world any more, with several other sides flashing improvement as well as those two finalists.

This men’s CONCACAF regional appears more ordered, but like the women’s tournament, the U.S. is at the top — defending champions, and with the TFC pair of Michael Bradley captaining and Jozy Altidore up front, of special interest here given the connection and their favourites status to win the 12-team event they will open tonight near Dallas. In their group, the Canadians and Jamaica line up behind favoured Costa Rica, with El Salvador longest odds on the board of a tournament that has been known to throw out an upset, including Canada’s improbable run to the 2000 title.

Young, athletic, and perhaps even dangerous, it’s a little different scenario for this breakout summer of soccer in Canada: the first real test for a new generation of Canadian men.