Good Monday morning Caps fans, hope you had the weekend equivalent of putting five goals past a rival and that your work week ahead is equally exciting.
First of all, welcome to the new digs for 86 Forever, which is now freed from the constraints of SB Nation and is officially all off on its lonesone.
Truth be told, the Whitecaps were never a real priority for the folks at SB Nation and 86F was largely left to its own devices. But there was still some things we wanted to try that will now be on the table.
This is as excited as I’ve been about where the blog is headed since I started working here in 2017. Alex is a fantastic journalist and its fun to absorb the BTS brand to come together under one roof to cover the Caps, Canadian national teams, Canadian Premier League and beyond. This was the best possible outcome for 86F and for Caps fans, who have gotten fewer places to read or listen about their team in recent years.
If you have questions, feedback or suggestions, we’d love to hear it. Find us on any of our social media accounts (which have remained unchanged amid all of this) and say hello — this is now officially your site, rather than one owned by a media conglomerate that has minimal interests in you and your fandom.
And what a weekend to inaugurate the new site. The Caps’ 5-0 drubbing of CF Montreal on Saturday seemed to be letting a bit of pent up frustration and energy out on a listless away side, who was largely lifeless both before and after Rudy Camacho’s red card.
There is little doubt that the success can be attributed to the addition of Ali Ahmed and Simon Becher to the mix, both of whom were absolutely everywhere from the first whistle. Brian White continued doing what he has been doing all year, just this time with a goal, and Julian Gressel remained dominant.
But the attention will be on Becher and Ahmed and credit to Vanni Sartini for giving them both a chance to start and impress after more than earning that right in appearances as subs.
I wrote in the post match that Becher reminds me of peak 2021 Brian White with his hold up play and finishing, just with pace to boot. I was one of many who didn’t really see what was starting in front of me the whole time, largely ignoring his potential and thinking he wasn’t quite up to snuff in MLS, even when he was scoring goals in cameos in the league.
Becher won’t look as good as he did Saturday in every match but he quickly is seemingly like he is the puzzle piece that has been missing from the attack. Both he and Ahmed seem to have wrestled starting spots away from injured teammates, with Ahmed’s pace and instant connection with his teammates led to some wonderful moves (helped by the extra space brought about by Montreal being a man down).
Alongside Deiber Caicedo’s return to the fold, the presence of Pedro Vite and the fact that the Caps didn’t even need to touch Ryan Gauld, rested on account of some hamstring discomfort, and it is amazing that Vancouver could soon be described as having some level of attacking depth. What a concept!
A midweek clash with LAFC in the CONCACAF Champions League will bring a stiffer test than a rather lackluster Montreal side, of course, as well the first Cascadia derby of the young season against Portland on Saturday. Winning both might be asking too much but there will be no lack of confidence for the team after their most recent performance.
Shameless Self Promotion
We have all the glorious details from Saturday night in our post match and report card recaps. Meanwhile, we look ahead to the Canadian Premier League season as James Merriman, the head coach of Pacific FC, looks ahead on his team’s preparations.
Best of the Rest
Simon Becher and Vanni Sartini look back at the youngster’s torrid (and historic) performance
In what probably could be classified as a “too little, too late” development, Nick Bontis has apologized to Christine Sinclair
Shep Messing claimed on Apple TV’s MLS 360 that he has “inside information” that Messi is coming to MLS. Oy vey
Vancouver Whitecaps 2 played to a 1-1 draw with LAFC 2 (with another goal from Kam Habibullah) but added the extra point from the penalty shootout
Welcome to the new home. I didn’t quite get that I needed to start coming to a new URL for some reason. I thought the old URL would redirect here. Is that coming maybe? I’d hate for all the traffic to get lost as people are too quick to think the site has stopped getting updated. I guess that depends on if you own the URL.
Either way glad this is a seen as positive change. I went to the game on Saturday and man it was a lot of fun to watch. The energy of Becher and Ahmed along with some surprisingly good play by Luis Martins stood out. We could have had even more. Brian White still manages to find ways to miss the net somehow. I feel for him but he needs to keep it simply I think. Anyway bring on LAFC.
Yes, we are in the process of re-directing our old URL, so it should automatically take you to the new site soon!
its been a pleasure to have your site to discuss/debate/confront the few times the Caps have hit the right notes, and all the times they mostly didnt- its the only place that it happens, so a BIG THANK-YOU!!! the other sites are more FLUFF than serious discussions
Surprisingly, i am more interested in Saturday’s game vs Portland- want to see what vanni does for the line-up (keep the hot foot of Ahmed on the last game line-up, or decide to go back to Schopf in MF rather than Ahmed- it will really be a statement by Vanni if doesnt go with Ahmed, but he is capable of messing it up)- its more probable- and we would agree- that Vanni starts Gauld if his hamstring has recovered as it is one of the most difficult soccer injuries to get over- Martins at RB is a probability, but Vanni may go with Ahmed at RB and Schopf at MF, but i think that is a serious loss after what we all saw vs Montreal
the game vs LAFC comes as a second serious game – the question is– does Vanni rest some key players for Saturday, or does he rate the game as serious to come out with a tie or win ? i suppose that a CONCACAF Champions game is also HUGE for the Club’s growth- going with the same line-up 3 games in 1 week is a challenge – does Vanni choose to rest players like becher, ahmed, gressel, brown and white ?? Vanni could choose to start Hasal, Raposo, Yao, Ngando,, Habbibullah, Caicedo and dajome
and SURPRISINGLY, i dont have an answer – its all about energy flow and whether CONCACAF is just as important as MLS games