Good Monday morning Caps fans, hope the first match of the season brought you joy and that your week ahead is equally lovely.
The performance from the Caps on Saturday afternoon wasn’t exactly lovely but it was enough to earn a 1-1 draw with Charlotte. Notoriously slow starters thar Vancouver is that’s probably a fine result as there are still some major kinks to work out in the build up.
Some of this is a function of continuing to integrate Dramir Kreilach into the system. One match in, I’m not going to sound the alarm. But there could be room for starting Fafa Picault in San Jose, as goals continue to be a question mark for this attack.
The defensive solidity continued, however, with good performances from the two center backs and a couple of big stops from Yohei Takaoka. If that continues it will go a long way towards buying the attack time to click into gear and get back to the level we know they can hit.
The biggest news of the weekend, however, was not from the season opener but was rather confirmation of what all signs had been pointing to: the retirement of Russell Teibert.
Rusty probably could have continued to ply his trade in the CPL but I certainly respect his desire to enter into a front office role and contribute that way, where I imagine he will be a real asset as an ambassador and potentially as a coach.
It was disappointing to see the joy a lot of people were expressing at this news. Teibert was not at an MLS level and hasn’t been for some time. But 16 years of service and over 300 appearances deserve everyone’s respect and appreciation and Teibert will be hailed as a club legend, not due to his overwhelming goal output or his superb technical skill but his hard work, willingness to do whatever he was asked and yes, some strong play in midfield. Recent years have led to some revisionist history on Rusty and his abilities but this is a guy that was getting national team call ups for a long while.
Rusty has been held up by disgruntled “fans” as a symbol of what is wrong with the team and its ambitions. I would counter that he exemplifies what is right about the team when things click: an academy player who came good, who cares about the club and its culture and who left a positive impression on and off the pitch. If ownership cared about the Caps and their fans as much as Teibert then we would be in a better position as a club.
So congratulations on a well earned retirement Rusty — and we’re glad you’re sticking around Vancouver.
Shameless Self Promotion
We have more from BC Place on the sluggish start to the regular season and report card grades to see how everyone stacked up in matchweek one.
Best of the Rest
More on Dramir Kreilach’s trajectory from Whitecaps killer to Whitecap
Full credit to the fans, who turned out en masse, 29,000 strong to cheer on the team
LAFC and Real Salt Lake forged ahead and played in, basically, a blizzard. You gotta love MLS, man
MLS instructed announcers not to dwell on the replacement refs, even as the officials botched a call that hurt Sporting KC and allowed Philadelphia to earn a late draw
Canada needed extra time to beat Costa Rice in the CONCACAF W Gold Cup, setting up a date with the U.S. in the semis
why is it that when the Caps have a BIG attendance, they falter and seemingly choke, come out flat rather than being energized by the crowd ?
Russ was 100% work rate and hustle. That doesn’t age well. He had some great moments scoring twice a couple of times but at 31 it’s the right call for that style of play and skill set.
I don’t think most fans, myself included, ever hated him. We just thought he got too much playing time for his skill level. That’s on the coaches not him.
PS. That was NOT “blizzard like” … That was a “blizzard” bordering on white-out LOL
When linking to articles / resources that are behind a paywall, a courtesy is to either note that or note the source in context to give anyone interested an idea if it might be or not.
Article on the league notes about the refs being an example. (I have an Athletic sub, so not an issue for me but many do not sub to it and thus it’s a waste of time to follow the reference.)