Good Friday morning Caps fans. Hope you all are having a good week and that you are mentally preparing for June (I don’t know where the last month has gone).
The Caps ended what has largely been a dismal May with a bright spot, snapping their winless streak by beating Sporting Kansas City on Wednesday night.
The first 20 and last 5 minutes marred what otherwise was a pretty solid performance from Vancouver, one that more closely resembled the start of their season than their recent efforts.
A late equalizer and the fact that SKC should have scored an early goal was not ideal. But the team otherwise was defensively solid, showed more intensity in winning second balls and applying pressure and created more dangerous chances than they have recently.
Whether that is down to Vanni Sartini’s tactical tweaks or the fact that SKC is pretty miserable this year, however, is very much up for debate. I think a better opponent punishes the Caps early and doesn’t make some of the defensive errors that led to both Ryan Gauld goals. But it is worthy of celebration that Vancouver did the basics right after a series of matches where they looked lost.
Something to watch, however, was the early exit of Brian White from the SKC match due to a minor injury, which Vanni Sartini said would be monitored ahead of Saturday’s match against Colorado.
The good news is that, White or no White, Ryan Gauld rose to the occasion Wednesday. While his recent goal total has been boosted by penalties, Gauld was excellent and really was able to shine in the 3-1-4-2 that seems him play more centrally, rather than as a quasi-winger. If there was one lesson to take from Wednesday, it is that the attack functions much better when their star creator isn’t played out wide.
Bigger picture, another positive is that over the next nine matches before Leagues Cup, the Caps will play one team above them in the standings (Minnesota United). A majority of their games are against teams below the playoff line and, of the matches that are against teams ninth or better, three of the four will be at home.
That is in part a commentary on the quality of the West right now but it presents an opportunity to regain form against some beatable opponents.
Shameless Self Promotion
Yours truly breaks down Wednesday’s result and whether it means the Caps are back on track.
Best of the Rest
The Caps will get a derby in the Voyageurs Cup semifinals, when they will face off with Pacific FC
No Caps players made the cut for the pre-Copa America friendlies in June
Slowly but surely we are getting more detail about Canada’s professional women’s soccer league
Can Columbus lift the CONCACAF Champions Cup on Saturday and what does it mean for their ambitions?
we can all agree that Gauld was the Caps POTM- the best player on the field and the best player the Caps have ever had – can we imagine what the Caps COULD do if the owners gave us 1 more DP like him and then 1 more good player ?
the #2 POTM was berhalter- his sprinting of over 50 meters to get back and stop the shot on goal was simply amazing to watch- 100% committment and determination
Vanni rating- 7.0- he got the starting line-up right
Yup. That and the 5 man midfield made things better for the back 3. Brown and Utvik were very good. Brown’s 2nd strong match in a row. Near the end i thought Sartini was actually going with a back 4 when Laborda came in but no. Brown moved up to right wingback then over to left wingback. Brown did well in all 3 positions. Glad we’re not losing anyone to the international games coming up. It could have been bad. Can’t under stand Petite getting selected over Ahmed !!!