Good Monday morning Caps fans, hope you all had a lovely weekend and that your are getting in the festive spirit.
Another MLS season has officially run its course, with LA Galaxy seeing off New York Red Bulls in a 2-1 win on Saturday to deservedly claim their seventh MLS Cup. It was an entertaining match that looked like it would be a blow out when the Galaxy scored two goals inside 20 minutes but the Red Bulls fought back well to pull a goal back and keep pushing until the final whistle.
There is little doubt, however, that the Galaxy were the best team in the playoffs and one of the most dynamic teams this league has seen in some time. Gabriel Pec will deservedly get linked to big European moves but the remainder of that roster remains formidable, even with Riqui Puig sidelined with a torn ACL for much of next season. The team is a monument to how spending big in an effective, targeted way can produce a powerhouse.
But the Red Bulls are also a reminder that this league presents multiple avenues to win. Despite their multinational corporate owners, the Red Bulls have not really spent much more money than the Caps, instead leaning into their prodigious academy. While Emil Forsburg is a game changer, he is the first elite DP signed in many years and he came from within the Red Bull family.
And while it isn’t every year a seven seed runs the gauntlet to MLS Cup (the Red Bulls were, lest we forget, mediocre for much of this season), in this league anything truly can happen. And NYRB were undoubtedly the most deserving side to win the Eastern Conference merely by getting healthy, leaning into a solid core of homegrown and low priced talent and executing a simple game model well.
In the era of MLS 5.0 (or whatever number we’re on now) it is easy to forget that spending, while one predictor of success, is far from absolute. And while the Galaxy were ultimately too much to overcome, it is a victory for fans of all teams that two radically different types of clubs could reach the pinnacle of MLS and duke it out for 90 minutes in an entertaining match.
Despite everything that changes in this league and the likely efforts to increase spending (all good ideas), there is still hope for teams like the Red Bulls and the Whitecaps. And that is a worthy message to send us out into the offseason with.
Best of the Rest
Lionel Messi was tapped as MLS MVP, re-igniting debates over whether he should have won it or not.
Don Garber was non-committal when asked whether MLS was thinking of moving to a European-style calendar, as has been rumored.
Alphonso Davies picked up a hamstring strain over the weekend with Bayern, though its severity remains unclear.
MLS and Canadian soccer vet Kyle Bekker wants to keep forging ahead with his playing career into his 30s.
I would have less problems with the Whitecaps not spending if their academy was actually producing players. As much as we harp on poor spending by the club, it’s actually their terrible academy that is the biggest waste of money. This has to be a question from reporters for Axel – how is it that they can spend so much, yet produce literally nothing year in, year out.
Quote- “And NYRB were undoubtedly the most deserving side to win the Eastern Conference merely by getting healthy, leaning into a solid core of homegrown and low priced talent and executing a simple game model well.”
if only the Whitecaps had an academy that could accomplish the same – the money that has been spent since entering MLS in 2011 has largely been a waste and yet, nobody questions why that is
any Cap academy player or thinking of joining the academy should take a long look at keeping the Cap jersey on