Good Friday morning Caps fans, hope your work week is wrapping up and you have a lovely break awaiting you this weekend.
Once again, the entirety of MLS is having a lovely break … except for the Whitecaps, who are making up their match against LAFC which was moved due to Leagues Cup.
The drawback is the Caps are down … basically all of their good players. Andres Cubas, Ali Ahmed, Sam Adekugbe, Fafa Picault, Pedro Vite and Ryan Gauld all will be gone as the Caps try and snap out of their tailspin and get a much needed result against LAFC.
I won’t rant again about how dumb MLS is for playing through the international break in this case, particularly as it is effectively punishing the Caps for LAFC being good. I get we’re up against it, with the regular season winding down, but surely there was a better solution here? In any event, get ready to speak Levonte Johnson, folks.
I’ll shift gears to the end of the season awards, which has been getting much attention now that the Supporters Shield race has wrapped up and the Messi fanboys are backing their man for MVP.
I am one of those people who gets worked up about these awards, as someone who believes in the integrity of the league’s history and record books. And while Messi has clearly been the league’s best player, the fact that a guy who missed half of his team’s games (and whose team was better on a points-per-game basis while he was gone!) is probably going to win MVP is insane. No one asked, but I’d vote for Evander, who turned Portland into a playoff team no one will want to face, versus one of the worst teams in the league.
Tata Martino winning coach of the year makes a bit more sense to me, particularly if Inter Miami wins in two weeks time and breaks the all time points record. Having to navigate the loss of Messi and Luis Suarez for weeks at a time, albeit with possibly the deepest roster in MLS history, isn’t the easiest task. But give me Chris Armas, who turned the Colorado Rapids into a force, as the most deserving winner instead.
OK, time for me to exit my soap box. Without further ado, here are some links.
Shameless Self Promotion
Our podcast runs down the tough one-two punch for the Caps to end the regular season and evaluates whether they can get the job done.
Best of the Rest
The Whitecaps 2 side has made the playoffs and will take on North Texas SC, always a tall task.
The head of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment says “everything is on the table” for Toronto FC’s revamp.
The investigation into drone-gate has no certain end date.
One from Monday I forgot to add: Christine Sinclair is joining the ownership group of Vancouver Rise, a statement of intent for the women’s side.
absolutely shocked — as long as they get these types of crowds, the Owners wont make any off-season significant changes
you do try to keep optomistic– i have run out of enthusiasm this year, so will not take in- probably- the final game of the season– why punish myself ??
a month ago, i had hope that stuart armstrong would be the catalyst for the Caps heading into the playoffs, but i should have known better- most new players to MLS take a half season to adjust, get over turf injuries, settle their families and get used to the type of play and travel in MLS- it aint going to happen for Stuart and the Caps this season
as far as the LAFC game goes, it wont be who wins so much- its how many supporters go to the game- i think a lot of us are 100% pissed off with the Team’s performance at home, especially the last 4 games where we took 2/12 points– these are professional players and all we ask for is honest effort- is playing enthusiastically 2 games in a week too much to ask, especially when you have had the luxury of playing 5 home games in a row ??
anyways, we will see a lot of the bench sitters, including a few Caps 2 players on Sunday- on paper, it should be a cake-walk for LAFC and definitely not worth my time going
Regarding how many supporters go to the game, apparently there will be a few:
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/whitecaps-open-bc-place-upper-bowl-final-home-game