Toronto FC’s list of international representatives continues to grow: the Reds have eight players away with their national teams during this latest window.

Here’s what each one of them has at stake.

Altidore scored in both the semi-finals and final of the Gold Cup to cement his status as the USA’s first-choice striker. Jordan Morris and Bobby Wood will continue to push - and potentially partner - him, but with Clint Dempsey seemingly well-suited to a role from the bench at this stage of his career the Toronto FC man is comfortably Bruce Arena’s most established option up front.

The pair of World Cup qualifiers the Americans face over the next week could be make or break. They host Costa Rica - who delivered the nadir of Jurgen Klinsmann’s reign in the reverse fixture late last year - before travelling to San Pedro Sula to meet Honduras. The table currently looks like this:

The top three teams qualify automatically for the World Cup and the fourth goes into an intercontinental play-off against an Asian team.

If Mexico can take care of business against Panama, things will be looking much more comfortable for the USA should they beat Costa Rica. Six points out of six and they should be home and dry, with one of their two remaining fixtures after that coming against struggling Trinidad & Tobago.

Bradley is as guaranteed a starter as they get for the USA, and has looked much better since Arena took over as a consequence of being utilized in a more appropriate way.

There was tension between the captain and Klinsmann for a while, with the German - bafflingly - refusing to commit to Bradley as a dedicated holding midfielder. Bradley and Greg Vanney, thankfully, have been much more in tune with each other when it comes to the best use of him at this stage of his career.

Bradley will be keen to put November’s defeat to Costa Rica right; that game was a nightmare for him, with Klinsmann coming up with a 3-4-3 formation that left him attempting, in vain, to pick up the pieces in midfield as Jermaine Jones rampaged around to absolutely no effect.

Chapman’s absence from Canada’s Gold Cup squad has turned out to be something of a silver lining for the midfielder, who was able to play regularly for Toronto FC while a few of his competitors in central midfield were away.

His return to the national team is well deserved on the back of the way he played in those games. Chapman’s task with Canada will be much the same as it is in Toronto; compete with Jonathan Osorio for minutes behind one of the team’s best players.

Scott Arfield has not travelled for the friendly against Jamaica at BMO Field, though, so Chapman should get a good look immediately given Octavio Zambrano is not otherwise blessed with creative players in central midfield.

Panama have a bit of a dilemma. On the one hand, they are only one point behind the USA and will not have given up on qualifying for the World Cup in an automatic berth.

On the other, they know that the Americans are a much more stable proposition under Arena and will probably not cough their top-three spot up.

If that is the case, it might actually be more advantageous to them if the USA can beat Honduras next week; if Panama can beat Trinidad & Tobago at home on the same day, they will have tightened their grip on the play-off spot.

As mentioned, finishing fourth would mean a two-legged tie against the fifth-placed team in Asia - which is decided by another play-off. As things stand, Uzbekistan and Australia will be contesting that match but that is far from decided.

Edwards came back from the Gold Cup with a point to prove and had a pair of excellent games as a substitute against New York City FC, but has gone unused off the bench in the Reds’ last four matches.

Whether that’s been deliberate or simply circumstantial, I don’t know - I would guess the latter. It’s probably not the worst thing in the world, though, that Edwards has not been overworked through the summer months; he’s young and explosive and you want him fresh during the postseason, not feeling the effects of a long rookie year.

The 22-year-old should get his second cap in a familiar environment against Jamaica. The left side, unfortunately for Edwards, is probably the most competitive area of the team for Canada, with Marcel de Jong, Sam Adekugbe, Alphonso Davies, Junior Hoilett and Tesho Akindele all options on that flank.

Hasler is the biggest name around in the small world of Liechtensteiner football; Nicolas’ father Rainer, who sadly passed away in 2014, was named his country’s ‘Golden Player’ at UEFA’s 50th anniversary celebrations.

Rainer never played for his national team because the country did not have one until 1994. Nicolas, on the other hand, has 46 caps; the only active players with more are at least four years older than him.

World Cup qualifying has, unsurprisingly, proven difficult for the nation of 37,000 people. Their only wins came back in the lead-up to the 2006 tournament, when they had Luxembourg in their group and beat them twice. This time around, though, they are already eliminated having lost six games out of six and the team they had the best chance of taking points off, Macedonia, beat them 3-0 in Vaduz.

Up next is an away trip to Albania and then the small matter of Spain at the 7,500-capacity Rheinpark Stadion. Hasler tends to play in central midfield or even further forward for his country, and scored their most recent goal in a friendly against Finland in June that finished 1-1.

It has been an excellent few weeks for Osorio, who has got back to doing what he does best: keep the ball moving and grease everything going on around him.

The 25-year-old’s performances of late have suggested that he is at his best when he keeps it simple rather than feeling a burden to score goals or be the team’s primary playmaker. With Victor Vazquez in Toronto, that is no longer necessary and the same could be the case with Canada, who look to their wingers - as well as Arfield when he is present - to make things happen.

Osorio may well start at BMO Field and his job will be to simply keep the ball moving, preferably in the direction of Hoilett and Davies.

I have a pessimistic suspicion that Ricketts, as excellent as he has been for Toronto, may not see the pitch all that regularly with Canada under Zambrano.

I just don’t quite see where or how he fits into the lineup. Up front, Zambrano has Cyle Larin, Lucas Cavallini and Anthony Jackson-Hamel to choose from, all of whom would seem to be better suited to playing as a lone striker.

Ricketts has previously been used out wide with the national team, but he had mixed success there and there are now better - and more natural - options available.

Ricketts’ niche with Toronto, of course, has been as a penalty-area wrecking ball to be brought on late in games when the Reds need a goal. Perhaps there is a similar role for him to carve out with Canada but in most situations I’m not sure Zambrano will play with two strikers, and that could leave him on the outside looking in.

The games to watch

USA vs Costa Rica (September 1, 6.55pm, DAZN)

Mexico vs Panama (September 1, 9.30pm, DAZN)

Albania vs Liechtenstein (September 2, 12pm, Sportsnet World)

Canada vs Jamaica (September 2, 7pm, TSN 4)

Liechtenstein vs Spain (September 5, 2.45pm, Sportsnet)

Honduras vs USA (September 5, 5.30pm, beIN Sports & DAZN)

Panama vs Trinidad & Tobago (September 5, 10.05pm, DAZN)