Good Monday afternoon Caps fans, hope you all are rested and ready for the week ahead. Apologies for the delayed posting — I had this all written out and never hit publish.
It’s been an eventful few days, with the Caps following up a busy deadline day with a strong performance against Tigres in the Leagues Cup knockout round, albeit one that narrowly led in a penalty kick defeat. While Vancouver didn’t fully avenge their CONCACAF Champions League defeat, they certainly held their own with one of the elite teams in the Americas.
In some respects, Friday’s match represented a win-win. A victory would see them notch a massive win for MLS in the ongoing Leagues Cup competition over which league is better, as well as underscoring the strength of this Caps team. A loss would see them exit the tournament with good performances against top Liga MX side and the chance to rest up and integrate their new signings into the side.
And we’ll have a few choice memories from Friday’s match: Pedro Vite’s banger, Ryan Raposo’s clutch goalline clearance, the antics of the Tigres keeper in the penalty shootout. Not bad for a tournament I wrote off as fabricated and irrelevant. Shows you what I know.
Indeed, being competive with Tigres and Leon can start to change the narrative around this team within its own market, something that will be helped by the signing of a couple national team stalwarts.
A win might have boosted this further but a bit of a break is a good thing for a team that has more matches than almost any other in the league under its belt. The deadline day moves were intended for a team that still is gunning to win now — and I’m not talking about Leagues Cup.
Shameless Self Promotion
Caleb runs down the wisdom of the Caps’ deadline day splash and their signings for the Whitecaps 2 side.
Meanwhile, we also update on a successful League 1 BC triumph for the Caps.
Best of the Rest
Messi was at it again, seeing Inter Miami through in Leagues Cup thanks to a last minute free kick
Nahuel Guzman has gone viral for his PK shootout hijinks on Friday. Peak CONCACAF
Despite an early exit, the World Cup will prove lucrative for Canada
DC United is set to move on from Taxi Fountas amid another investigation into racist remarks
RE: Canada’s WC team– after watching several teams like Japan, England and the Netherlands and comparing to the Canadian team i was struck by the difference in skill level- the passing and dribbling skills of the other 3 mentioned teams was a lot higher
the Canadian players look like they are fighting with the ball on their feet- they look uncomfortable; their passing is often hit and miss and they rush all over the place without any significant plan– watch the Japanese team and compare
its time to rebuild with the promising teen players – the focus should be on skills, skills, skills and soccer intelligence- the days of grinding out results through aggression and fitness are, IMO, over- other teams have surpassed them
and BTW, thanks to the Canadian team who have given us a decade of fighting for the Red and White, the Maple Leaf
Lots of other favourites/contenders out although they all went out with more of a fight than we could muster against Australia. Australia was simply better in every facet of the game. Our best wasn’t near good enough. A lot of countries have now passed us: at least 10 European, 3 Asian, at least 1 South American, Australia obviously, probably at least 3 African. So we’re likely around 15-20 in real rankings. There’s a lot of rebuilding to be done. We’re nowhere near the top 10 in terms of speed, skill and the ability to score. It’s not going to be easy
If our back line and keeper have a bad game, you see the results. There is nothing on the attack and no creativity in midfield. The 15 to 20 cohort is our level right now and that is simply not acceptable.