Good Monday morning Caps fans, hope you all had a lovely weekend and are riding the good vibes on the pitch into your workweek (particularly if you work with someone from Toronto).

It was an impressive performance collectively on Saturday, as the Caps battered Toronto FC, proving that, to some extent, they are who we thought they all were at the start of the season, a surprisingly good start to the season notwithstanding.

After a week in which Vancouver almost let a derby victory slip away, they made no such mistake on Saturday, pouring it on TFC after an entertaining first half, where Yohei Takaoka was called upon to make several fine saves to keep Toronto off the board.

In the second half, where things started to go awry against Portland, it was one way traffic, with the Caps again punishing individual mistakes from Toronto and Ranko Veselinovic scored what in many weeks would be the goal of the week (Raul Rudiaz’s wonder strike against Montreal will probably take those honors this time).

The result takes the Caps top of the west with a game in hand, lofty territory that they have rarely occupied, even at this early stage of the season. This being MLS, difficulties will undoubtedly arise but there are lots of promising individual performances from Saturday’s win that will provide some encouragement that the hot start might have some sustainability.

Brian White was sharp in his return to the lineup, that goes almost without saying. And Fafa Picault has continued to be a revelation, proving skeptics like me to be gloriously wrong. And Yohei Takaoka continues what has been an excellent start to the season with his finest performance yet.

But Bjorn Utvik, making his full debut, was also strong, playing some nice balls and looking very composed after coming on against Portland and looking quite comfortable. Utvik remains a depth piece but as the fixture list will only get more congested, having a viable deputy to the somewhat mercurial Tristan Blackmon isn’t the worst thing in the world.

It was Alessandro Schopf, however, who turned in perhaps his finest match as a Whitecaps player yet, once again playing in the hybrid wingback/midfielder role that has turned him from an afterthought to a key contributor.

Schopf continues to have some limitations in terms of his pace and decision making but these have taken a backseat to some wonderful displays, including his splendid assist on Picault’s goal, where he intercepted the ball, controlled it, dribbled past a defender and whipped in an inch-perfect ball.

It should perhaps not be a surprise that Schopf is doing well in this role. I have been down on his tenure in Vancouver but a glance on his Football Reference chart from last year shows a guy who is well above average in progressive passing and progressive caries and someone who is able when he relies more on short passing in build up play, versus booming long balls forward.

Well, enter this new position and Schopf is flying, turning in what was arguably a man of the match performance on Saturday and making a case to remain in the team even when Sam Adekugbe fully returns to fitness. I think he still has limitations in a more conventional central midfield role but you can’t argue with these results and with Pedro Vite still hovering in “just OK” territory, you can see Schopf sticking around in the starting XI.

It really is just encouraging to see a guy who has been a consummate professional in Vancouver starting to string together some good performances and be the guy that we knew he could be when he arrived from Germany. You can see more confidence in Schopf’s game and a similar burst in belief has lifted Fafa Picault and others beyond what was expected of them at the start of the season. Pundits will leave these guys out of the narrative when they talk about the Caps’ bright start (to the extent they talk about it at all) but real fans know the truth: we wouldn’t be here without them.

Shameless Self Promotion

For a blow by blow on how the Caps slayed their Ontario-based rivals, there is no better person to recap things than AGR. Meanwhile, the report card grades are in!

Best of the Rest

Vanni Sartini had plenty of thoughts on where the Caps sit in the Canadian soccer hierarchy

How much stock should we put into the Caps’ hot start and how can they take it to the next level?

Meanwhile, it’s back to the drawing board for John Herdman and Co.

The Canadian women bested Brazil in a penalty shootout in the opening SheBelieves Cup match