Good Monday morning Caps fans. I hope you all had a good weekend and that you’re getting up and running for the week ahead.
It was an eventful weekend in the playoffs, with the Seattle Sounders vanquishing LAFC (and avenging the Whitecaps) and setting up a date with the powerful LA Galaxy in the Western Conference Finals. Across the country, the New York Red Bulls and Orlando City will face off for the other spot in MLS Cup.
And Caps fans were hit with an eventful morning, with the bombshell news that the club was not bringing back Vanni Sartini as manager, per Tom Bogert. The parting of ways is a surprise, though Sartini himself possibly had been hinting of the move in recent weeks.
The development is a disappointment to all of those who loved Sartini’s personality and energy on the touchline and with the media. And while I certainly have questioned his tactical decisions at times, there is little doubt he had the best performance of any manager in the MLS era.
The move signals that the Caps want a new, fresh face to lead the team as the window for its aging core closes. And, in some ways, you can see why. It was another season where the Caps didn’t take the next step and it is possible that never would have occurred under Sartini.
But ultimately, I struggle to see who the team is going to bring in that will do a meaningfully better job. This is not an uber attractive position in the same way Atlanta or other open jobs are. This is a team with a talented roster and significant limitations.
Had the move occurred if the Caps flamed out in the wild card match or if they had gotten rocked by LAFC, I would have seen the logic a bit more. But this is a real head-scratcher, absent a clear target on who to bring in next. This is not a club likely to bring in a Jim Curtain-esque ambitious move. And absent something like that, its hard to see this as a let down. I’m happy to be proven wrong (and maybe Vanni was holding this project back). But you could do worse as a manager than Sartini and I hope the team isn’t about to learn that lesson the hard way.
Shameless Self Promotion
Get your picks in for the end of the season awards, the logical conclusion of our guess the starting XI contest.
Best of the Rest
Bev Priestman made her first (presumably lawyer edited) remarks since the start of Drone-gate over the weekend.
Your run down of the playoff action if you missed all or some of the matches over the weekend.
Jesse Marsch is very high on his newest player, with Niko Sigur seemingly in for a bright future for club and country.
Who could be looking to cross the rubicon from MLS to CPL this offseason?
or perhaps its about the players- takaoka, raposo, schopf, caicedo, picault, johnson, priso, boehmer, nagando- who will be out-of-contract come december 31 – might have been a disagreement of which players stay on an option and which players are not –
the more i think about the Club’s decision to fire Vanni, the more i am leaning towards his out-of-control behavior with the officials during and after the final whistle- majority owner, Greg Kerfoot, is on the MLS executive so there might have been discussions/pressure about Vanni continuing
i agree with Sartini gone- was he ‘executed’ or did he want out ?
if its the former, IMO, his stubbornness in changing game formations and in-game decisions and his reluctance and non-belief in the Whitecap academy players could be a part of the decision – he also could have worn out the players with his ANDIAMO approach- it was often ‘over the top’ and pro players tune out – i just think he never matured as a head coach and didnt show any inclination to learn the craft- he was at his ceiling IMO; also, he was causing the Club grief within MLS with his outbursts at officials
or he has a better offer to go to because the other team loves his ANDIAMO
for whatever reason, YES, there is a better coach available, but whether the Owners do a deal is unlikely as they have ALWAYS, ALWAYS gone to a rookie head coach as its cheaper, which is ALWAYS their first criteria