Good Monday morning Caps fans, hope you all had a relaxing weekend and are gearing up for a fine week ahead.
Well, it appears I am officially banned from attending any more matches this season, after the Caps fell 3-0 in Kansas at the hands of Sporting KC. While fun to see the team, I would be fine if I never saw them concede another goal at Children’s Mercy Park ever again because boy have I seen a lot of them. I also pulled double duty by going to see the Whitecaps 2 side lose 7-1 to the SKC reserve side so … yeah. No more matches for me.
The Caps certainly looked poor, though they started well and I think the scoreline flattered SKC a bit, with expected goals ending up at 1.98-.84. Not great and Vancouver certainly deserved to lose but I think the home team got a bit lucky as well.
That being said, this might be a case of the tactical revelation Vanni Sartini rolled out against LAFC not holding up quite so well when teams have a week to prepare for it. SKC clearly knew that playing through the middle was going to be a challenge so they simple overloaded the flanks and made the Caps pay consistently. Ryan Raposo had some bright moments going forward but struggled defensively and the centerbacks seemed to find themselves out of position.
In part, this was savvy planning from Peter Vermes. But also, I would venture to say that if you took away five bona fide starters from any MLS team (including two of their best players), they would probably struggle in much the same way the Caps did on Saturday night.
This isn’t to make excuses for a low-energy performance (and, the fact of the matter is, the Caps will be without those key players for at least another match or two). But this is a team that is having to rely on its depth pieces at the worst possible time and that fact was exposed against SKC.
It was welcome to see the young players get on the pitch for a cup of coffee. J.C. Ngando and Gio Aguillar both looked bright in their cameos, with Aguillar’s entrance late in the match marking his MLS debut. It was also a celebratory occasion for Levonte Johnson, who came on in the second half a day after signing a first team contract, a deal that is well-deserved and will see him become a useful piece for the run in.
To that end, I would be curious to hear folks’ thoughts on Sergio Cordova from Saturday. My non-Caps fans friends kept remarking at how frustrating Cordova is and I found it difficult not to agree with them. But when I got home and looked at his output in terms of stats, I found it much more favorable than I expected. I think everyone agrees Cordova must get on the scoresheet ASAP (and that this transfer was a mistake) but there seems to be some demonstrable signs of progress, if he can just keep himself onside.
Shameless Self Promotion
A more substantive recap of what went wrong for the Caps from Caleb Wilkins.
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To be honest I thought Becher was a bigger problem than Cordova. I mean both were poor but Córdova got involved at times; I thought Becher provided nothing. I realize it can be hard to get involved as the striker in a game like that, but find a way. Draw a couple fouls, hold up the ball when it does come your way, something… There was just nothing there from him. He’s an impact sub and not more at this point (and there is nothing wrong with that), but I think White was the biggest miss in this game
Is it known what has happened to Brian White, and when he will return to play?