Good Friday morning Caps fans, hope you all are having a lovely end to your week and that you have plans for your Labour Day holiday — summer is rapidly fading away.

The midweek brought good news, as the Whitecaps returned to the field and promptly booked their ticket to the Voyageurs Cup final against Toronto and a shot at a third straight win in the competition.

It was one-way traffic in the first 20-25 minutes or so and the match had the feel of a possible beat down. When Ryan Gauld slotted home into an empty net 11 minutes in, I thought it was going to be the first of many goals.

But while this was the most comfortable victory the Caps have had over a CPL side in this competition in some time, it was not a blowout and they ultimately failed to score again, despite some gilded edge chances (Damir Kreilach missing what amounted to a tap in comes to mind).

Vancouver weren’t helped by Brian White exiting with what appeared to be his second concussion of the season (a major cause for concern we will get to in a moment). But this was yet another example of the Caps being unable to put a game away.

Ultimately, this Pacific side (who have scarcely scored in their last half-dozen matches) will be the weakest the Caps will face all year. And that meant they could get away with some truly sloppy passes that should have been punished with goals from Reon Moore 1v1.

And while some errors are inevitable when you have 80% of the possession (as the Caps did in the first half), that sharpness that seemed to signal a drubbing ultimately faded away and Vancouver were back to struggling to unpick a team that sat deep. They started to find their feet again when Pacific came out of their shell in the second half but they needed to turn that space into goals, not because it was necessary to move on in the competition but because not doing so in the playoffs or in the final will be a mistake they are liable to pay for.

Ultimately, they don’t ask how you did it in competitions like this. And the 2-0 aggregate win was far smoother than what Toronto had to scrounge up to advance over Forge.

But Vancouver will travel to an Austin team that is far more adept at parking the bus and will be forced to try and find a way through. That they will have to do so without White (who is already a confirmed miss) is concerning, more because concussions compound in their seriousness the more often you have them. For White’s wellbeing, I hope that isn’t the case here.

Ultimately, Tuesday was cause for celebration. But the Caps will need to rise to the occasion in the final if they want to ensure their name is engraved in the trophy. Playing like they did the first 25 minutes from Tuesday will certainly ensure that happens.

Shameless Self Promotion

For more on how the Caps looked in their post Leagues Cup return, we have the reporting live from BC Place.

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