Good Friday morning Caps fans, hope you all are gearing up for a rest as we plunge into the holiday weekend. CWTC will be off for Christmas on Monday (you weren’t seriously going to be online anyway were you?) but will return to get caught up on everything we missed in a week’s time.

And oh boy, what a busy week it has been in the runup to the holiday. Firstly, we got some scheduling announcements for both MLS and CONCACAF Champions Cup.

Let’s start with the good news first. Inter Miami will be making their first ever trip to BC Place, putting the Caps in the position of being one of the winners of schedule release day. While Lionel Messi’s turf plans have been a mixed bag to date, it seems more likely than not he will be playing against the Caps next season which is … surreal to say the least.

The bulk of the club’s home matches this year will be on a Saturday, including the May 25 date with Messi and the March 2 season opener against Charlotte FC. As someone who dislikes midweek matches with a passion, this is definitely a win.

The bad news comes in Champions Cup play (unless you live on the island). BC Place is out of commission that day (have we mentioned that it would be great if the Caps someday owned their own stadium), meaning their Feb. 7 date with Tigres will take place at Starlight Stadium in Victoria.

While I actually like the idea of the Caps periodically playing a game on the island, it is a real disappointment that possibly their only continental home match won’t take place at BC Place. That’s particularly true given the strong attendance at home during Leagues Cup and the possibility of using the second deck again for such a big match. Starlight won’t be the same.

The Caps were without a pick in the first round of Tuesday’s SuperDraft but did use both their second and third round selections, nabbing Hofstra midfielder Eliot Goldthorp in the second round and Canadian striker Nicolas Fleuriau Chateau from St. John’s in round three.

We’ll preface this analysis by saying that the odds are against either guy making the first team. But this is an organization that has used the draft very effectively in recent years and I thought Simon Becher would never become a useful piece either so, hey, take my evaluation with a mountain of salt.

Both seem like as good of players as you could have asked for in those rounds, however. Goldthorp was an All American and was one of the top assists leaders in all of college soccer. I’m not gonna pretend to have watched much Hofstra soccer but his YouTube highlights show a guy who can play more centrally or drift out wide, takes a nice set piece and has some dribbling to boot. He is English, meaning the Caps dip back into the “foreign midfielder with a range of skills” bag, like they did last year with J.C. Ngando. Seems like an MLS Next Pro piece for the time being though.

Chateau won’t probably be displacing Brian White anytime soon but he had a pretty good goalscoring record, averaging a goal every 78 minutes in 2023. He could have flown under the radar also after sustaining a serious injury the year before. He also seems like a solid MLS NP stash and, being Canadian, could always get a CPL loan if he impresses at that level. Also, the Caps have had good luck with St. John’s before, thinking back to Tim Parker. Can lightning strike twice?

I was mildly surprised the Caps didn’t try to trade into the first round, given their propensity for the draft. But given the weirdness of this year’s draft, given new rules that allow underclassmen to declare, they possibly wanted to sit back and see how things play out.

Best of the Rest

A roundup of interesting tidbits from the Daily Hive, including confirmation of interest in Japanese wingback Ryoya Morishita … until he signed with Legia Warsaw Friday morning

MLS were dealt a blow in their quest to have MLS NP teams play in U.S. Open Cup, with U.S. Soccer swatting away their plan

A recap of who made out best in the SuperDraft (best to take Vancouver’s grade with a grain of salt)

New England have tapped Caleb Porter to be their next head coach

Europe’s top court ruled footballing authorities improperly shut down a Super League,, creating fears that such a move could be back on the table