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The Carolina Panthers are finally getting active in free agency. The Panthers bolstered three areas of need on Friday, signing unrestricted free agent quarterback Joe Webb and cornerback Antoine Cason to one-year contracts and wide receiver Tiquan Underwood to a two-year deal. Financial terms were not released. The moves come after the Panthers signed free agents safety Roman Harper and wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery earlier this week. Webb gives the Panthers an extra quarterback during off-season workouts with Cam Newton sidelined four months rehabilitating from ankle surgery. Derek Anderson, who re-signed with the team, is expected to run the first-team offence while Newton is out. Webb spent the last four seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, seeing action at quarterback and wide receiver. The Panthers said in a press release they plan to use Webb at quarterback. A former sixth-round draft pick out of Alabama-Birmingham, Webb completed 88 of 152 passes for 853 yards and three touchdowns and five interceptions with Minnesota. Webb signed with the Panthers after what coach Ron Rivera described as a "strong workout" on Friday. "He is a young player who intrigues us and has a similar skill set to Cam," Rivera said in a press release. "With Cam sidelined for the spring, it is an opportunity to get a good evaluation of Joe as well as Matt Blanchard, who was on our practice squad last year." The 6-foot-1, 195-pound Cason is a six-year NFL veteran who played for Rivera in San Diego when Rivera was the Chargers defensive co-ordinator. Cason has played in 80 games with 49 career starts and is a potential replacement for starting cornerback Captain Munnerlyn, who signed this off-season as a free agent with Minnesota. "I have experience with Antoine and look forward to working with him again," Rivera said. Cason was a first-round draft pick by the Chargers in 2008 and had 12 interceptions and four forced fumbles in five seasons in San Diego. He signed with Arizona last year and saw his playing team dramatically reduced. He played in all 16 games but did not start, finishing with 14 tackles and two interceptions. Cason has been a durable player. Hes played in 96 consecutive games, which is tied for the third-longest active streak among NFL cornerbacks behind only William Gay (112) and Corey Graham (109), according to the Panthers. Underwood played the last two seasons with Tampa Bay where he started 10 games. He brings big play potential to Carolinas offence -- something they lost when Ted Ginn Jr. signed a free agent contract with the Cardinals this off-season. The 6-foot-1, 185-pound receiver caught 24 passes last season for 440 yards and four touchdowns in 2013, averaging 40 yards per TD catch and 18 yards per reception. 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According to the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Cubs dealt minor league outfield Trevor Gretzky to the Angels for catcher Matt Scioscia. TORONTO -- The Canadian Soccer Association released its 2014-18 strategic plan Thursday, with an eye on a huge prize further down the line. Hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup. "The process has to start now," CSA president Victor Montagliani said Thursday of a bid to stage "the grand-daddy of them all." Brazil is hosting the mens World Cup this summer, with Russia (2018) and Qatar (2022) in the wings. A 2026 bid would probably have to be filed around 2018. Canada is hosting the womens World Cup next year. Getting that right is key to being able to giving the mens tournament a shot. CONCACAF, which covers North and Central America and the Caribbean, has not hosted the mens World Cup since the U.S. in 1994. "Were the only G-8 nation to not host the World Cup," Montagliani added. "Weve hosted almost every other event .. I think its time for Canada to step up to the plate." By next year, Canada will have hosted every FIFA event except for the world futsal, beach and club championships and Confederations Cup. Montagliani says the World Cup bid is part of the new blueprints strategy to encourage growth in the game in Canada. Such a bid goes hand in hand with reviving a national mens team that currently ranks 111th in the world, sandwiched between Bahrain and Guatemala. While the Canadian women turned heads with a bronze medal at the 2010 Olympics, the men have not won since being knocked out of World Cup qualifying in a 8-1 humiliation in Honduras in October 2012. A 2-0 loss in Slovenia last November stretched the Canadian mens winless streak to 14 games. Canada is 0-11-3 over the streak and hasnt scored in 10 games. The winless run has seen the Canadian men outscored 27-2. Canada has not won since a 3-0 World Cup qualifying victory over Cuba in Toronto four days before the Honduras debacle. In the national teams defence, Canada has played tough opposition in Australia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Japan, Mexico, Panama, Slovenia and the U.S. And coach Benito Floro has looked to young talent since taking over the squad last summer. Montagliani pointed to the U.S. successful bid for the 94 World Cup. "When they bid for the World Cup, I wouldnt say the game was in a healthy state in the U.S. both professionally and domestically. Their leadership group decided to put a bid together and I think that was a bit of a lightning rod for people to come together." A World Cup bid would require eight to 12 stadiums with 10 the optimum, according to CSA general secretary Peter Montopoli. All would have to accommodate at least 40,000 with more for the venue for the final. The CFLs recent trend towards new stadiums and plans to revamp BMO Field in Toronto help the CSA cause although much work would remain, not to mention questions about artificial surfaces. "There are a lot of requirements from a hosting perspective for a mens World Cup," Montopoli acknowledged. "Its massive." FIFA, CONCACAF and the federal sport minister are aware of the CSAs intentions, he added. "We have been trying to get to the prime minister. Hes busy. But we will be getting to the prime minister on this file." CONCACAF seems on board, tweeting its congratulations on the CSAs "ambitious new strategic plan." A bid to co-host the World Cup was possible, with the subjectt already having been raised with U.ddddddddddddS. Soccer, Montopoli said. With FIFA yet to issue its 2026 hosting guidelines, Montopoli said talk of a co-hosted bid "might be a little premature but it certainly is possible." The CSAs 2014-18 blueprint is titled "Leading a Soccer Nation." It is a pithy document divided into four goals with 27 sub-points. The four major goals are: 1) Invest in technical leadership. 2) Ensure consistent world-class performances by our national teams. 3) Govern the game in Canada professionally. 4) Encourage and oversee the grown of the game. The CSA plan also calls for mandating technical development across the country and establishing a national player database. The strategic plan was 18 months in the making with input coming from town hall meetings and an online survey (which got 3,000 responses). It also involved looking at the strategic plans of other sports in Canada including hockey, figure skating, volleyball and golf, as well as foreign soccer organizations from the U.S. and England to Mexico and the Netherlands. "Because we believe there was no point in re-inventing the wheel here," said Nick Bontis, director and chair of the CSAs strategic committee. Changes in CSA governance have made the association better able to institute its policies. The makeup of the CSA board is no longer made up of regional interests, with the emphasis on skill set rather than geography. Bontis says the new strategic plan will pay immediate dividends. "Weve never historically necessitated a certain behaviour by our provincial associations," said Bontis. "This strat (strategic) plan is the opposite. It necessitates certain behaviours." That includes provincial governance reform, investment in technical leadership and mandating provincial strategic plans. "Historically it was 10 different countries writing their own strat plans, their own technical plans, moving forward and somehow -- in some sort of magical way, Abracadabra -- the CSA was supposed to co-ordinate 10 national plans. That is something that needs to go away in the short-term." Bontis will be front and centre in the CSAs plan to create a national player database, allowing it to better leverage its 850,000-plus registered players. "We are in the year 2014 and we are archaic," he said. "Its an embarrassment how we register players across the country." "Harvesting a million registrants will have fundamental changes in the way we do business in soccer in Canada," he added. Players currently register with their local club, with the information and accompanying fees eventually flowing to the district and then the province and then the CSA. Bontis goal is for players to register nationally online, establishing a connection directly with the national program. Canada Soccer previously prepared a hosting bid for the 1986 FIFA World Cup, which was originally awarded to Colombia but then went to Mexico. That tournament marks Canadas lone participation in the event. Canada hosted the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 1987 (then known as the FIFA U-16 World Tournament), the U-20 Womens World Cup in 2002 and the U-20 World Cup in 2007. This summer will see another edition of the U-20 Womens World Cup in Canada with the Womens World Cup to follow in 2015. ' ' '