Good Friday morning Caps fans, hope you all had a good week and that you’re wrapping up any holiday shopping you have yet to do (or, if you’re like me, you’ll procrastinate some more …).

This week, the Caps learned their opponent in the first round of the refurbished CONCACAF Champions Cup and, as most of us expected once the pots were revealed, it is a doozy.

Vancouver will meet old friends Tigres again, marking the third time in recent memory they have faced off against this particular grande, including a hard fought duel in Leagues Cup last year and their battle in the old version of the CONCACAF Champions League in 2016-17.

We reflected at the time when Tigres knocked the Caps out of Leagues Cup that their most recent matchup showed how far Vancouver has come, as the club graduated from hanging on for dear life against a clearly better opponent to going toe-to-toe with their Liga MX rival.

Well, this marks a chance for the Caps to further show their progress and really make a statement of intent for the possibilities next season could bring. Beating Tigres is always a tall ask, particularly as it comes very early in the season for an MLS side, but if there was a year to do it, this probably is it.

The Caps have as high of expectations heading into next year as they ever have in MLS. Moreover, they will return the bulk of their core starting XI contributors. We expect some additions, of course, but these guys likely will not overhaul the way Vancouver plays or the lineup they will trot out.

Vanni Sartini hinted this week that the club might be looking to make additions from within MLS, a savvy move that could really pay dividends and help those new arrivals further hit the ground running in Vancouver (versus bedding in a new arrival from elsewhere on the globe).

Even despite the things working in Vancouver’s favor, this is one where you would be generous to the Caps if you were to call it a 50/50. This was the toughest matchup for any MLS side in the first round and you do have to look enviously at some of the other Central American/CPL sides that their counterparts drew in round one.

But that would be the wrong attitude. If you want to be a big club in MLS, you should be looking to relish these types of matchups with the elite teams on the continent. If we want to see BC Place full and rocking, well, this is a way to do it. And if it winds up in a famous victory, well, that will go a long way to re-establishing this club in the market and it would put the league on notice in what figures to be a winnable Western Conference.

Onwards and upwards!

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