Good Friday morning Caps fans, hope you all are having a lovely week and that you are preparing for fall, which is coming in earnest.

It was a good week for the Caps, what with the Stuart Armstrong signing getting across the finish line. We discussed this on Monday so I won’t belabor the point but I did have a couple of additional thoughts.

Listening to one of my preferred MLS podcasts, Soccer Wise, David Gass made the point that the Caps are looking for Armstrong to be what they wanted Alessandro Schopf to be.

That’s the perfect way of looking at this. I do think this opens the door for a guy who can score goals and contribute assists. But, realistically, the Caps need to progress the ball into dangerous areas more often, where their very good (or great) finishing skills can kick in. Armstrong is obviously trying to do that.

But what Armstrong also does is his arrival could free up Pedro Vite to return to more of a winger role. A lot has been made about trying to add another forward and the return of Deiber Caicedo sort of does that. But the possibility of moving Vite further forward intrigues me, as his results as a central midfielder have been mixed this season.

Instead, you could have another guy who is an effective dribbler and shooter in a more advanced role, benefiting from the additional space that guys like Brian White and Ryan Gauld can create. That seems like it could also be a boost.

But neither Armstrong nor most of the Caps’ other top players will be at BC Place on Saturday against FC Dallas.

Let me preface the following rant by saying that the Caps have limited license to complain about international breaks. Aside from Andres Cubas, few regular starters have been getting routine call ups during the MLS season (White’s lone call up came in the January window, I believe).

But the absurdity of basically every important Whitecaps player being unavailable is frustrating and underscores why a lot of people would rather bin Leagues Cup and actually take the international breaks off. If the Caps drop points on Saturday and miss out on a home playoff spot by a slim margin, it will sting a bit (though it isn’t as if there haven’t been other self-inflicted wounds along the way).

Indeed, I’ll be happy if Vancouver gets anything out of the match on Saturday. Being at home will be a boost and FC Dallas have had, erm, problems defensively this season. But this is a time for the role players to step up and make an impact. I’ll be pleasantly surprised if that happens.

Best of the Rest

More on the behind-the-scenes of how the Caps landed Stuart Armstrong.

Ryan Gauld got 20 minutes at the end of Scotland’s defeat to Poland on Thursday, officially making him a full Scottish international.

Jesse Marsch is predicting a victory for Canada over the USMNT on Saturday, adding some juice to a friendly.

PSA: MLS Season Pass costs a few bucks now ahead of the run in.

The Caps’ Cascadia rivals in Seattle are having a weird year. What does a rebuild look like for them?