Good Friday morning Caps fans, hope you all are having a lovely week and have big weekend plans awaiting you.

When Vancouver takes on New York Red Bulls on Saturday they will be doing so with a new squad member: right back/wingback Giuseppe Bovalina, who joins the Caps from Adelaide United in the A League.

This has all the hallmarks of a depth signing and it will help give a more defensively sound option to balance out the attacking mindedness of Ryan Raposo. And while Alessandro Schopf looked solid as a wingback, that probably is not a viable long-term strategy.

Bovalina is also one for the future — at 19-years-old, he impressively was already earning significant play time for Adelaide and already has a cap for the Australian U-23 side. Some of the A League watchers appear quite high on him as a prospect, though I also trust the more mixed review of our in-house expert Caleb.

In truth, this is not the big, bold move that could be needed in the summer to maximize this team’s potential. That type of signing wasn’t coming this window and honestly, I was surprised the Caps waded in on deadline day at all. They’ve been solid with these types of signings on the margins in recent seasons and I trust the scouting department has done its job with Bovalina. And, as an aside, it is fun to see the Caps return to signing guys from top Asian leagues. While we should probably try and block out the Bernie Ibini-Ibsei experience, Yohei Takaoka proves there is value in these leagues and its a savvy move to try and cash in at a time when few other MLS teams seem to want to do so.

Shameless Self Promotion

The podcast hops around Canadian soccer, from the state of play for the Caps, to CPL to the return of League 1 BC.

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As for competitive matches, the Caps now know they will be taking on Cavalry FC in the Voyageurs Cup quarters.

What is the latest on the Canadian National Team’s search for a head coach?

The Canadian Women’s National Team will have a pair of friendlies against Mexico before departing for the Paris Olympics

Indianapolis is pushing hard to be the latest MLS expansion site