Good Monday morning Caps fans. Hope you all had a restful weekend and that all is going well as you gear up for the workweek that lies ahead.

I’ve cooled down somewhat from the painful, stoppage time defeat for the Caps on Saturday night, which meant they threw away points despite leading not once but twice in the match. On paper, a loss heading into the match would have been a missed opportunity (Seattle was down two key players) but wouldn’t have been fatal. But the way it happened was, of course, brutal.

It wasn’t a match without positives. The return of Brian White was a big boost, Ryan Gauld was once again splendid and Levonte Johnson seems to be playing himself into more and more minutes, even if it is as a wingback. The defending was also generally good (Seattle lacked clear cut chances until the second half, basically) — or at least, it was good until it wasn’t.

The fact that set pieces continue to undo this team is infuriating. So are the individual mistakes that continue to mean that seeing out games can be a challenge (while the Caps hung on in wins against Minnesota United and LAFC, they certainly made their lives harder than necessary and that bit them against Seattle). Regardless of whether Mathias Laborda deserved a second booking (I would say no), you have to be more careful as a defender not to put yourself in that position. It isn’t assured that he would have stopped Yeimar from scoring the winner anyway but it wouldn’t have hurt.

In fairness to Vancouver, they were without arguably their most important player this season, on top of Julian Gressel, Ali Ahmed and Javain Brown. The absence of Cubas was certainly felt and contributed to some of the defensive issues. The club will also, naturally, have a chance to reinforce the fullback and centerback position, something I would encourage them to do.

The loss leaves the Caps at a bit of a crossroads. They remain in ninth place with a game in hand against the Rapids, so things are perhaps not quite as dire as they seem but remember the seven match road sequence upcoming after the Leagues Cup break.

Simply put, this has been an inconsistent team. The rest of the Western Conference, by and large, has not been much better but some teams that were previously mid pack (Real Salt Lake) are starting to pull away. Mentally, the response from this will be telling. This can be either a moment where the team’s resolve is tested after a difficult loss or the moment where the promising start — the self-confidence, the Nickelback songs, the trophy lift — can start to come undone. I continue to have faith that this team can continue to head in a positive direction.

Shameless Self Promotion

We have more from Saturday’s defeat, including more from yours truly and a report card breakdown of what went wrong.

Best of the Rest

The U.S. knocked out Canada on penalties in the Gold Cup quarterfinals, though U.S. fans were ultimately the losers for watching 120 minutes of drab soccer. Canada, I thought, acquitted itself well.

Meanwhile, Canada has unveiled its roster ahead of the World Cup

Today I learned that the guy who generally announces Charlotte FC games turns into Mickey Mouse after a goal

Franco Ibarra is headed to Toronto FC and he’s already throwing shade at them